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THE  NEW 
SOCIALISM 


BY 


HAROLD  A.  RUSSELL,  C.  E. 


The  Shakespeare  Press 

410  E.  32d  Street 

New  York 


Copyright,  1916, 
by  H.  A.  Russell 


CONTENTS 

Page 

1  The  New  Socialism  -         7 

II  Why  Are  We  Poor?  11 

III  And  For  This,  What  Remedy?  -      14 

IV  What  We  Have  So  Far  Learned       -       17 
V  And  Why  Not  20 

VI  An  Imaginary  Community  23 

VII  Over-Production  25 

VIII  The  Factory  27 

IX  The  Railways  30 

X  The  Store  34 

XI  The  Farm  38 

XII  Money  and  Banks  42 

XIII  Stocks  and  Bonds  47 

XIV  Demand  and  Supply  52 
XV  The  Two  Methods  56 

XVI  The  Home  59 

XVII  The  Domestic  Servant  -                     63 

XVIII  The  City  66 

XIX  Property  69 

XX  Freedom  -          72 

XXI  The  Inventor  -                75 

XXII  And  the  Public  79 

XXIII  Morals  -  83 

XXIV  The  Unlocked  Wealth  89 
XXV  Organization  -        93 

XXVI  Government  -              -         96 

XXVII  And  Legislation  99 

XXVIII  Transition  -         102 

XXIX  Conclusion  -           -           106 


343090 


PREFACE 

This  little  book,  written  with  the  purpose  of  pre- 
senting in  a  popular  and  readable  form,  ideas  which 
have  been  treated  more  seriously  elsewhere,  is  almost 
wholly  descriptive  of  a  form  of  social  and  industrial 
organization  which  the  writer  conceives  to  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  principle  of  social  justice  elsewhere 
enunciated. 

The  problem  of  practical  socialism  is  as  old  as 
civilization.  In  all  centuries  men  have  dreamed  of  a 
golden  age  in  which  all  things  would  be  made  perfect, 
and  have  struggled  to  devise  laws  and  systems  under 
which  men  might  cooperate  in  harmony,  and  all  have 
sufficient  for  their  needs.  Yet,  at  the  present  day,  the 
problem  appears  to  be  as  little  understood  as  in  the 
beginning.  From  the  time  of  Moses  and  Plato  to  that 
of  the  more  modern  Utopian  imaginings  which  hold 
our  interest  for  a  passing  day  and  are  soon  forgotten, 
philosophers  have  left  but  futile  records  of  their  specu- 
lations. Hence  men  have  come  to  think  of  the  prob- 
lem as  one  which  does  not  come  within  the  sphere  of 
exact  science. 

He  who  claims  to  have  reached  a  solution  of  the 
problem  must  necessarily  face  an  incredulous  audience. 
Men  will  hesitate  to  believe  that  a  problem  so  long  un- 
answered, and  apparently  too  complex  for  the  appli- 
cation of  any  principle  or  theory,  has  been  brought 
within  the  dominion  of  science,  and  that  a  way  has 
been  marked  out  for  future  reformers  which  will 


PREFACE,  Continued 

eventually  result  in  a  system  of  industry  and  coopera- 
tion under  which  all  men  will  be  justly  treated. 

Yet  why  should  men  assume  that  there  is  any 
question  which  cannot  be  made  the  subject  of  scienti- 
fic knowledge,  any  problem  which  cannot  be  under- 
stood? Nature  has  not  made  it  impossible  to  establish 
social  justice,  much  less  impossible  therefore  to  define 
it. 

"True  enough,"  you  may  say,  "but  how  are  we  to 
know  when  the  correct  answer  has  been  given?"  My 
answer  is  that  you  judge  it  by  these  standards : 

That  it  harmonizes  with  the  understood  laws  of 
progress  and  evolution. 

That  its  realization  is  the  logical  outcome  of  a 
process  of  political  and  industrial  change  already  be- 
gun. 

That  it  involves  no  sudden  or  impossible  change  of 
human  nature  in  order  to  become  operative. 

That  it  calls  for  no  artificial  or  arbitrary  adjust- 
ment of  work  or  wages. 

That  it  preserves  the  fullest  liberty  to  the  in- 
dividual. 

That  it  ensures  to  each  the  full  value  of  his  labour 
and  equality  of  opportunity. 

That  it  answers  every  objection  which  can  be 
fairly  made  to  any  theory  of  industrial  reorganization. 

Finally,  that  it  appeals  to  every  sense  of  justice 
and  fairness. 


The  New  Socialism 


WHAT     IS     SOCIALISM  f 

Socialism  may  be  broadly  defined  as  the  conscious 
effort  to  realise  the  ideal  of  social  justice.  I  know  of 
no  better  definition  than  this,  vague  though  it  may  ap- 
pear. It  is  only  by  such  a  broad  generality  that  we 
can  include  every  phase  of  that  great  world  movement 
which  people  have  learned  to  think  of  as  socialism. 
On  one  point,  however,  are  socialists  found  to  be  in 
perfect  agreement.  Essentially  socialism  is  a  criti- 
cism of  existing  social  and  industrial  institutions.  All 
agree  that  there  is  and  can  be  no  such  thing  as  justice 
under  capitalism,  and  that  the  realization  of  the  ideal 
of  social  justice  can  be  accomplished  only  by  the  over- 
throw of  the  capitalist  system. 

Naturally,  the  first  conception  which  men  formed 
of  a  new  social  order  was  that  of  complete  equality 
of  its  members,  a  simple  theory  which  may  be  likened 
to  man's  first  conception  of  the  formation  of  the 
Earth,  and  naturally  enough  socialism  still  suggests  to 
the  average  man  the  idea  of  equality,  and  idea  which  to 
the  individualist  means  the  cessation  of  that  natural 
rivalry  which  makes  for  progress  in  mankind  and 
which  is  to  society  what  the  law  of  gravity  is  to  the 
physical  universe. 


8  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

The  individualist  will  claim  that  as  there  exist  in- 
equalities among  men  so  must  there  result  inequalities 
in  the  results  of  their  labours.  That  each  should 
prosper  according  to  his  ability  and  application,  is  the 
essential  truth  of  the  individualistic  philosophy. 

But  let  us  measure  the  inequalities  which  arise 
under  our  present  day  methods  of  production  and  dis- 
tribution of  wealth  in  the  light  of  the  individualist's 
own  standards :  To  each  according  to  his  ability  and 
application. 

Here  is  a  man  who  has  become  the  possessor  of  a 
fortune  of — let  us  say — one  million  dollars.  Let  us 
not  question  the  methods  by  which  such  a  fortune  has 
been  acquired,  but  let  us  assume  that  it  is  lawfully  and 
rightfully  his,  and  that  he  is  entitled  to  every  dollar 
of  his  fortune.  Were  he  to  spend  it  year  by  year  he 
could,  without  himself  working,  draw  upon  the  labour 
of  others  to  the  extent  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  a 
year  for  fifty  years. 

But  does  he  do  so?  By  no  means.  So  long  as  the 
capitalist  system  endures,  the  possession  of  wealth 
brings  with  it  an  advantage  which  enables  some  men 
to  live  without  labour  at  the  expense  of  those  whose 
labour  brings  to  them  the  merest  livelihood;  an  ad- 
vantage which  cannot  by  any  means  be  justified,  even 
by  the  individualist's  own  philisophy. 

The  man  who  possesses  a  million  dollars  need 
never  spend  a  single  dollar  of  his  accumulated  wealth 
in  order  to  live.  Carefully  invested  at — say — five  per 
cent,  it  will  yield  an  annual  income  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  No  labour  is  necessary  to  procure  this 
income.  It  comes  to  its  owner  without  effort  and  re- 
gardless of  his  occupation.  When  he  dies  it  will  still 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  9 

be  paid  to  his  heirs  and  in  turn  to  their  heirs,  and  so 
on  from  generation  to  generation,  as  long  as  the  system 
lasts ;  and  as  long  as  it  lasts  some  one  must  be  robbed 
of  the  fruits  of  his  toil  in  order  that  those  who  invest 
their  savings  may  draw  interest  and  dividends. 

Here,  then,  we  come  face  to  face  with  the  condi- 
tions which  create  socialism.  Here  we  have  discover- 
ed the  great  injustice  of  capitalism,  against  which 
socialism  is  the  natural  reaction,  and  which  we  can 
understand  more  fully  by  answering  the  question — 
What  makes  money  multiply  without  labour? 

To  this  question  there  can  be  but  one  answer.  It 
is  the  private  ownership  of  land  and  capital,  which 
enables  the  few  to  monopolize  the  means  and  ma- 
chinery of  production  and  distribution. 

Ownership  of  land  enables  one  man  to  charge  rent 
which  another  who  uses  the  land  must  pay.  The  ten- 
ant does  the  work  and  the  landlord  shares  the  pro- 
ceeds. Ownership  of  railways  enables  another  set  of 
men  to  make  profits  from  those  who  use  them.  Owner- 
ship of  factories,  workshops,  stores,  steamships,  docks, 
buildings  and  other  things  necessary  to  the  carrying 
on  of  the  world's  business  enables  men  to  make  profits 
from  all  those  who  depend  upon  their  own  labour  as 
a  means  of  living. 

Ownership  of  the  banks,  with  the  exclusive  right 
to  issue  money,  enables  another  set  of  men  to  add  in- 
terest to  the  charges  already  made  by  those  who  own 
and  control  the  means  of  production  and  distribution. 

Such  is  the  system  under  which  we  live,  and 
which  many  of  us  have  come  to  regard  as  the  highest 
possible  type  of  civilization.  In  truth,  when  we  look 


10  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

more  closely  into  it,  it  is  but  a  modified  form  of  slavery 
equally  unjust  and  equally  indefensible. 

Therefore,  whether  we  call  ourselves  socialists  or 
individualists,  we  have  every  reason  to  condemn  the 
present  system  and  every  reason  for  seeking  a  better 
means  of  distributing  the  fruits  of  production.  Social- 
ism is  the  desire  to  replace  capitalism  with  something 
better,  and  the  question  to  which  the  world  is  anxious- 
ly awaiting  an  answer  is,  What  is  this  something 
to  be? 

To  answer  this  question,  in  part  at  least,  is  the  ob- 
ject in  writing  this  little  book. 

That  this  answer  is  neither  the  orthodox  answer 
of  socialism,  nor  the  half  measures  of  orthodox  re- 
formers, may  be  gleaned  from  the  fact  that  it  is  writ- 
ten by  one  who,  although  it  may  appear  paradoxical, 
calls  himself  both  a  socialist  and  an  individualist. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  11 


II 

WHY    ARE     WE     POOR  ? 

Of  our  entire  population  only  fifteen  per  cent  are 
wealthy.*  Of  the  remaining  eighty-five  per  cent, 
thirty-five  per  cent  live  from  day  to  day  upon  wages 
and  fifty  per  cent  are  very  poor,  and  why?  Is  it  be- 
cause the  earth  is  too  poor  to  support  its  present  popu- 
lation? Or  is  it  because  the  efficiency  of  labour  has 
so  decreased  in  the  past  fifty  years  that  men  are  today 
unable  to  produce  all  that  they  require  for  their  sup- 
port? 

A  little  thought  will  show  us  that  neither  of  these 
things  is  so.  In  many  countries  the  crying  need  is  for 
more  people.  They  are  not  poor  because  of  over- 
population. They  are  poor  because  of  insufficient 
population.  With  the  greater  part  of  North  America 
only  sparsely  settled,  with  the  continents  of  Africa 
and  South  America  not  yet  fully  explored,  with  Aus- 
tralia and  Canada  calling  for  new  settlers,  with  thous- 
ands and  thousands  of  acres  awaiting  the  coming  of 
the  ploughman,  surely  we  cannot  say  that  the  earth 
is  too  poor  to  support  its  people. 

Is  it  due  to  the  inefficiency  of  labour?  Then  what 
of  those  great  improvements  of  science  and  invention 


*  Other  figures  are  given  of  distribution  of  wealth  in  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Charles  B.  Spon  in  authority  for  the 
statement  that  the  rich  constitute  1  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion; well  to  do  10.9  per  cent;  poor  38.1  per  cent;  and  very 
poor  50  per  cent. 


12  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

of  which  we  have  been  boasting  during  the  past  half 
century!  One  thousand  years  ago,  with  such  rude 
tools  as  were  then  in  use,  men  were  able  to  live  and 
support  an  aristocracy  of  wealth  and  luxury.  Yet 
with  all  the  improvements  which  science  has  wrought 
in  the  methods  of  production,  and  with  all  the  im- 
provements in  transportation,  and  business  organiza- 
tion, we  are  still  poor,  miserably  poor  and  often  denied 
the  right  to  apply  our  labour  in  order  to  produce  suf- 
ficient to  keep  body  and  soul  together. 

What  then  is  the  reason  for  this  if  it  is  not  that 
a  few  men  have  gathered  unto  themselves  the  owner- 
ship of  an  ever-increasing  proportion  of  those  things 
which  we  must  use  in  order  to  live — land  and  the  ma- 
chinery of  production.  Three  men,  we  are  told,  work- 
ing with  machinery,  can  produce  all  the  flour  that  a 
thousand  men  ordinarily  consume  in  a  year.  To  cover 
the  total  cost  of  bread  served  over  the  counter,  includ- 
ing baking,  milling,  growing  the  wheat  and  transport- 
ing it  to  market,  the  estimate  is  that  "ten  men  work- 
ing one  year  serve  bread  to  one  thousand/'  That  is 
to  say,  one  man  can  supply  himself  with  bread  by  ap- 
plying his  labour  with  modern  machinery  one  hun- 
dredth part  of  a  year,  or  about  three  days  a  year.  Yet 
with  land  waiting  to  be  ploughed,  and  men  eager  for 
work,  thousands  of  persons  are  today  on  the  brink  of 
starvation,  and  the  only  explanation  to  be  found  is  in 
the  enormous  profits  of  those  who  own  the  lands,  rail- 
ways, mills,  bakeries,  etc.,  through  which  the  wheat 
must  pass  on  its  way  from  the  farm  to  the  consumer. 

Year  by  year  the  earnings  of  these  industries  con- 
tinue to  increase.  Year  by  year  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation adds  to  the  value  of  the  monoply,  and  year  by 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  13 

year  the  capitalists  continue  their  process  of  tighten- 
ing their  grip  of  ownership,  and  increasing  their 
dominion  over  the  masses  of  the  people  who  own  only 
their  labour,  and  what  it  can  earn  in  the  open  market. 
Year  by  year  they  go  on  merging  one  industry  into 
another,  each  new  combination  being  accompanied  by 
a  flood  of  new  securities,  upon  which  the  people  must 
pay  interest,  and  year  by  year  the  cost  of  living  con- 
tinues to  increase,  discontent  continues  to  grow,  and 
people  ask  why  they  are  poor. 

To  form  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  wealth  which 
accumulates  in  the  form  of  rent,  interest  and  profits  is 
obviously  an  impossible  task.  No  statistics  are  suf- 
ficiently comprehensive  or  sufficiently  accurate  to  en- 
able us  to  do  this.  One  authority  estimates  it  at  half 
the  total  annual  production,  but  at  the  rate  at  which 
capitalization  has  increased  during  the  past  ten  years 
it  is  doubtful  if  this  estimate  is  anywhere  near  the 
mark.  The  fact,  however,  is  plain:  The  few  men  who 
own  the  means  of  production  are  growing  enormously 
rich ;  the  many  who  have  only  their  labour  to  sell,  and 
whose  labour  has  built  the  mills  and  the  railways,  the 
factories  and  the  workshops,  ploughed  the  land  and 
reaped  the  harvest,  are  poor,  even  unto  the  brink  of 
starvation. 


14  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


III 

AND     FOE     THIS,     WHAT     REMEDY  ? 

Must  it  endure  for  ever,  or  must  there  come  a  time 
when  changes  are  inevitable?  Shall  it  be  changed  by 
a  series  of  peaceful  reforms,  or  shall  it  end  in  revolu- 
tion ? 

No  thoughtful  person  will  for  a  moment  assume 
that  present  conditions  are  to  continue  indefinitely. 
They  must  either  be  made  better  or  allowed  to  grow 
worse.  If  they  are  to  be  made  better  then  they  are  to 
be  changed  by  a  series  of  peaceful  reforms.  If  they 
are  to  be  allowed  to  grow  worse,  then  the  inevitable 
consequence  is  revolution. 

Few  indeed  are  the  people  who  are  not  in  favour 
of  some  reform,  yet  each  in  his  mind  has  set  the 
bounds  beyond  which  this  process  must  not  pass.  One 
man  would  have  us  regulate  the  trusts,  another  would 
have  us  own  them.  Still  another  would  be  satisfied 
with  a  reduction  of  the  tariff.  One  man  would  have 
state  control  of  railways,  another  advocates  state 
ownership.  One  man  will  draw  the  line  at  public 
ownership  of  public  utilities,  while  yet  another  de- 
clares out  and  out  for  socialism.  Each  in  his  turn 
sets  bounds  to  progress  of  reform;  none  realize  that 
no  such  bounds  can  ever  be  set  until  every  form  of 
injustice  has  vanished  and  until  unearned  increments 
are  things  of  the  past. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  15 

Those  who  take  the  view  that  things  are  growing 
worse,  and  not  better,  have  much  to  support  their 
position.  Day  by  day  the  number  of  small  producers 
grows  less;  day  by  day  the  strength  of  large  combines 
and  large  aggregations  of  capital  becomes  greater; 
day  by  day  the  number  of  persons  who  live  by  wages 
increases,  and  day  by  day  the  number  of  employers 
grows  less.  Day  by  day  the  power  of  the  trusts  grows 
greater,  and  day  by  day  the  cost  of  living  increases, 
and  were  it  not  that  our  eyes  are  being  blinded  to 
another  and  equally  important  set  of  facts  the  con- 
clusion would  be  that  revolution  was  inevitable. 

Those  who  reason  thus,  however,  have  forgotten 
the  voice  of  the  common  people.  They  have  forgotten 
the  man  who  is  trying  to  have  the  tariff  reduced; 
they  have  forgotten  the  man  who  says  we  must  regu- 
late the  trusts ;  they  have  forgotten  the  man  who  says 
we  must  own  our  railways,  and  they  have  forgotten 
the  man  who  says  we  must  own  the  trusts  and  the 
means  of  production,  and  operate  them  for  the  com- 
mon good;  they  have  forgotten  the  labour  party  of 
Great  Britain  and  its  present  influence  upon  the  poli- 
tics of  the  present  day;  they  have  forgotten  the  radical 
in  the  ranks  of  the  liberal  party;  they  have  forgotten 
the  four  million  social  democrats  in  Germany;  they 
have  forgotten  the  birth  of  a  socialist  party  in  America 
and  the  insurgents  in  the  older  parties.  In  a  word, 
they  have  forgotten  the  voice  of  the  common  people, 
which  sooner  or  later  must  be  heard  and  obeyed. 

But  then,  what  of  the  time  when  this  voice  will 
not  only  be  heard  by  those  who  now  rule,  but  when  it 
shall  rule  by  its  own  power  and  make  its  own  laws! 
What  of  the  time  when  men  have  seen  the  injustice  of 


16  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

capitalism,  and  have  begun  to  seek  a  remedy  for  its 
ills!  What  of  the  time  when  men  shall  say  that  the 
ownership  of  these  great  industries  and  highways  of 
trade  must  no  longer  remain  in  the  hands  of  private 
companies  and  corporations!  What  of  the  time  when 
men  shall  say  that  industry  is  no  longer  to  be  organiz- 
ed for  the  purpose  of  making  profit,  but  for  the  pur- 
pose of  supplying  the  people 's  wants !  What  of  the 
time  when  men  shall  say  that  the  function  of  issuing 
money  is  no  longer  to  be  monopolized  by  bankers  for 
their  private  gain ! 

How  then  shall  industry  be  organized  that  all 
men  may  receive  justice,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  sys- 
tem be  maintained?  Here  is  the  question  to  which 
time  must  find  an  answer.  But  need  we  in  the  mean- 
time fear  to  proceed?  Those  who  fear  the  conse- 
quences need  only  reflect  that  evolution  will  event- 
ually find  the  correct  answer  to  the  riddle.  The 
easiest  way  is  the  best,  and  the  best  at  all  times  the 
easiest.  Motion  follows  the  line  of  least  resistance  in 
reform  as  in  other  things.  Experience  will  guard  us 
from  that  which  is  wrong,  while  that  which  is  right 
will  endure.  Evolution  will  find  the  way,  and  to  fore- 
tell its  progress  we  have  only  to  look  to  the  changes 
which  are  now  taking  place. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  17 


IV 

WHAT     WE     HAVE     SO     FAR     LEARNED 

Fifty  years  ago,  men  little  thought  of  what  is 
now  generally  known  as  state  ownership.  Today 
many  countries  own  and  operate  their  railways,  tele- 
graphs, telephones  and  other  public  utilities,  while  an 
inventory  of  the  cities  and  towns  which  have  made 
similar  progress  in  the  ownership  and  operation  of 
street  railways,  gas  works,  electric  light,  water  supply, 
and  other  enterprises,  would  make  a  long  list  which 
is  constantly  growing  greater. 

Every  extension  of  state  or  municipal  ownership 
is  a  curtailment  of  the  powers  of  capitalism ;  every  ex- 
tension of  the  principle  of  public  ownership  is  a  step 
towards  that  complete  owership  which  must  replace 
private  monopoly  in  order  that  the  abuses  of  capital- 
ism may  be  entirely  eliminated. 

True,  our  progress  so  far  has  done  but  little  to 
lighten  the  burden  of  labour,  or  to  remedy  the  evils  to 
which  capitalism  has  given  rise.  It  is  but  a  mere  be- 
ginning compared  with  that  which  remains  to  be  done 
ere  a  better  system  is  evolved,  yet  from  these  small 
beginnings  we  may  learn  a  lesson  which  will  be  a 
guide  to  us  in  all  future  reforms. 

In  no  case  have  we  introduced  communism.  In 
no  case  could  such  a  thing  be  possible.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  state  has  gone  on  paying  wages  just  as  the 
companies  which  preceded  it  had  paid  them.  True, 
the  employees  may  have  received  better  pay  for  short- 


18  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

er  hours  of  work,  and  in  general  their  condition  may 
have  been  improved,  but  in  the  main  the  practice  has 
remained  the  same.  Skilled  labour  is  paid  a  higher 
wage  than  unskilled.  Mental  labour  is  paid  higher 
than  physical.  Superintendents  are  paid  better  wages 
than  craftsmen,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  scale. 
By  this  we  mean  that  wages  have  continued  to  be  reg- 
ulated by  the  law  of  demand  and  supply,  which  in  the 
last  analysis  is  the  law  that  fixes  these  differences  be- 
tween the  different  grades  of  labour. 

Though  the  greater  number  of  our  people  today 
live  by  wages,  there  exists  no  arbitrary  law  either  of 
state  or  industry  whereby  such  differences  are  deter- 
mined. A  natural  law  takes  care  of  that,  and  with 
that  law  we  have  no  quarrel.  The  hod-carrier  does 
not  abuse  the  mason,  nor  the  navvy  envy  the  mechanic. 
Each  knows  that  when  he  has  acquired  the  skill  of  his 
superior  his  chances  will  be  the  same,  and  each  is 
sensible  of  the  fact  that  such  differences  are  founded 
upon  differences  in  skill  and  capacity  for  work,  and 
recognizes  them  as  just. 

Motion  following  the  line  of  least  resistance  leaves 
this  as  the  only  practical  solution  of  that  portion  of 
the  problem.  Any  attempt  to  violate  this  law  must 
meet  and  always  has  met  with  disaster.  Communistic 
communities  have  always  failed,  and  indeed  always 
must  fail,  for  the  sufficient  reason  that  human  nature 
cannot  long  tolerate  a  violation  of  his  law,  which  is 
to  the  social  state  what  gravity  is  to  the  universe — the 
force  which  holds  it  together  and  enables  men  to  co- 
operate in  harmony. 

It  is  at  the  other  end  of  the  process,  however,  that 
we  may  notice  a  difference  between  the  methods  of 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  19 

the  state  and  those  of  capitalism.  Capitalists  natur- 
ally seek  to  make  their  gains  as  large  as  possible,  and 
for  his  reason  prices  are  kept  to  the  highest  level. 
If  it  be  a  railway,  freight  and  passenger  rates  are  reg- 
ulated by  what  the  traffic  will  bear.  Dividends  are 
made  as  large  as  possible  and  the  success  of  the  under- 
taking is  measured  by  these  fleecings.  Not  so.  how- 
ever, is  the  case  of  the  state.  The  state  has  no  need 
for  such  earnings,  and  beyond  paying  actual  expenses 
and  providing  for  depreciation  and  improvements, 
need  take  nothing  further  from  those  who  use  its  rail- 
way. 

A  case  in  point  may  be  cited  from  New  Zealand, 
this  being  one  example  of  the  many  which  might  be 
quoted  to  illustrate  the  same  point.  The  New  Zealand 
Railways,  which  are  owned  by  the  state,  earn  three 
per  cent  upon  their  cost,  which  is  necessary  to  pay 
the  banks  who  have  the  monoply  of  issuing  money, 
and  from  which  the  government  borrows,  but  beyond 
this  amount  all  profits  are  eliminated  by  reductions 
in  freight  and  passenger  rates.  Unlike  the  complicat- 
ed freight  schedules  of  privately  owned  railways,  the 
rates  are  based  upon  a  flat  mileage  system  and  are 
among  the  lowest  in  the  world,  despite  the  fact  that 
the  country  is  by  no  means  as  thickly  settled  as  others, 
with  which  their  rates  may  be  compared. 

Here,  then,  we  have  foreshadowed  the  means  by 
which  the  injustices  of  capitalism  are  to  be  dealt  with. 
There  is  to  be  no  change  in  the  methods  of  employ- 
ment, and  no  interference  with  the  law  which  reg- 
ulates the  differences  of  wages.  There  is  to  be  a  com- 
-plete  change  in  the  methods  of  charges,  and  in  the 
earning  of  profits  and  interest. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


AND     WHY     NOT  t 

Some  socialists  will  contend  that  so  long  as  the 
system  of  competition  among  labourers  exists,  wages 
must  tend  to  the  lowest  level  and  the  labourer  will 
always  be  poor.  Such  a  view,  however,  loses  sight  of 
the  real  causes  of  poverty.  The  injustices  of  the  pres- 
ent system  consist  in  the  extortionate  charges  made 
by  those  who  own  the  means  of  production  upon  those 
who  have  to  use  these  as  a  means  of  living.  Rents, 
interest  and  profits  constitute  the  sum  total  of  the 
robbery  of  labour  by  the  capitalists.  The  socialist 
cries  for  the  complete  ownership  of  the  land  and  the 
means  of  production,  as  a  means  of  putting  an  end  to 
this  robbery.  Why  then  should  it  not  be  sufficient  to 
eliminate  rents,  interest  and  profits  in  order  to  estab- 
lish justice  in  the  distribution  of  wealth? 

We  may  despair  of  making  this  point  clear,  how- 
ever, until  we  can  show  a  complete  system  of  state 
ownership  and  operation  in  which  this  method  is  fully 
applied. 

Therefore,  let  us  assume  that  the  state  has  be- 
come the  sole  owner  of  land  and  the  machinery  of 
production  and  distribution,  from  which  capitalists 
now  make  profits  and  let  us  assume  that  instead  of 
chartering  banks  to  issue  money  on  which  they  may 
charge  interest,  the  government  is  to  issue  its  own 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  21 

money  without  interest ;  and  having  made  this  assump- 
tion, let  us  see  what  the  resulting  conditions  will  be. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  state 
has  become  the  sole  employer  of  labour,  since  it  owns 
all  the  railways,  steamships,  mines,  factories,  work- 
shops, stores,  teams,  and  in  fact  everything  from  which 
capitalists  now  make  profits.  It  is  the  sole  employer 
of  cooperative  labour,  and  since  there  are  no  longer 
stockholders  or  landlords,  all  men  who  labour  co- 
operatively must  find  employment  with  the  state. 
This  means  only  an  addition  of  about  fifteen  or  twenty 
per  cent  of  the  entire  population  to  the  ranks  of  labour, 
consisting  of  capitalists  who  under  this  new  system 
would  be  compelled  to  work,  wherefore  conditions  of 
competition  would  not  be  seriously  changed. 

Competition  among  the  workers  will  then  have 
become  universal.  There  will  be  none  who  do  not 
compete,  and  since  every  office  under  the  state  is  open 
to  such  competition,  all  will  compete  on  equal  terms; 
opportunities  will  be  in  all  cases  equal,  and,  under 
the  free  working  of  the  natural  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand of  labour,  a  fair  and  just  graduation  of  labour 
will  be  maintained  throughout. 

But  if  conditions  seem  to  be  little  different  at  this 
end  of  the  process,  such  is  not  the  case  at  the  other. 
Industry  is  no  longer  taxed  to  provide  interest,  rents 
and  profits  for  those  who  own  land  and  capital.  The 
state  has  no  need  for  such  enormous  revenues  as  would 
thus  accumulate  were  prices  to  remain  as  they  are 
today.  Prices  must  therefore  be  reduced  throughout, 
and  it  is  here  that  the  great  difference  will  occur  be- 
tween capitalism  and  socialism.  The  enormous  profits 
now  flowing  into  the  hands  of  the  capitalist  class  will 


22  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

be  distributed  among  the  workers  in  the  form  of  re- 
ductions on  everything  which  they  buy.  Or,  to  put 
it  more  correctly,  they  will  no  longer  be  taken  from 
the  worker  as  they  are  today  through  the  exorbitant 
prices  which  he  has  to  pay,  in  order  to  produce  profits 
and  interest  for  the  privileged  class. 

The  ten  men  who  supply  a  thousand  other  men 
with  bread  will  not  divide  the  capitalist's  profit 
among  themselves,  but  they  will  share  in  its  division 
by  forming  a  part  of  the  one  thousand  men  who  will 
enjoy  cheaper  bread. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  23 

VI 

AN    IMAGINARY    COMMUNITY 

Let  us  suppose  that  our  community  consists  of 
ten  persons,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I  and  J.  A,  B  and 
C  earn  $1.50  per  day;  D,  E  and  F  earn  $2.00  per  day; 
G,  H  and  I  earn  $2.50  per  day,  and  J  earns  $3.00  per 
day,  making  in  all  $20.00  for  the  day's  work,  or  for 
the  three  hundred  working  days  in  the  year  $6,000.00, 
which  is  the  amount  of  their  annual  earning.  Since 
there  are  to  be  no  profits  from  their  labour,  no  rents 
and  no  interest  paid  to  any  members,  and  since 
prices  of  their  products  are  to  be  equal  only  to  the 
cost  of  labour  necessary  to  its  production,  the  year's 
product  will  be  sold  for  $6,000,  exactly  equal  to  the 
amount  which  the  workers  have  earned.  They  have 
a  dollar  with  which  to  purchase  every  dollar's  worth 
of  their  product,  and  each  of  the  workers  purchases 
exactly  that  proportion  which  his  labour  has  produced 
as  measured  by  his  wages. 

Now  let  us  suppose  that  wages  are  cut  in  two: 
A,  B  and  C  get  only  75c  a  day ;  D,  E  and  F  $1.00  per 
day,  and  so  on  through  the  list.  The  annual  earnings 
will  then  be  $3,000  instead  of  $6,000,  but  the  cost  of 
production  has  been  reduced  by  an  equal  amount. 
The  goods  formerly  sold  for  $6,000  will  now  be  sold 
for  $3,000,  and  the  proportion  which  each  may  pur- 
chase remains  the  same.  There  is  no  loss  because  of 
low  wages,  as  long  as  low  wages  mean  low  prices. 

We  may  multiply  our  imaginary  community  by 
any  number  we  wish,  and  the  law  still  holds  good. 


24  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

Let  prices  be  measured  exactly  by  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion, or  by  the  cost  of  all  labour  contributed  towards 
production,  and  the  law  which  determines  the  gradu- 
ation of  labour  insures  a  fair  and  just  distribution  of 
wealth. 

Here  then  we  have  found  a  perfectly  natural  law 
of  distribution,  self-adjusting  and  free  from  all  arbi- 
trary regulation. 

But  now  let  us  see  what  becomes  of  our  law  of 
distribution  under  capitalism. 

Let  us  assume  the  same  community,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  Mr.  X,  the  capitalist,  who  owns  the  land  and 
the  machinery  of  production,  and  who  therefore  be- 
comes the  employer  of  labour.  Mr.  X  pays  out  the 
same  $6,000  for  labour  which  produces  the  same 
$6,000  worth  of  goods,  but  to  this  he  adds  $1,000  in  un- 
earned increments,  rents,  interest  and  profits,  and  of- 
fers it  to  the  worker  at  prices  which  will  bring  him 
$7,000  should  it  all  be  disposed  of.  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F, 
G,  H,  I  and  J  purchase  proportionately  to  their  earn- 
ings, but  they  cannot  purchase  all  they  produce,  for 
the  reason  that  they  possess  only  $6,000  in  money,  and 
their  products  are  valued  at  $7,000.  One-seventh  of 
their  products  therefore  goes  to  the  capitalist.  Or, 
perhaps  the  truth  would  more  nearly  be  told  if  we  said 
one-half  goes  to  Mr.  X,  for  this  is  more  nearly  the 
proportion  which,  under  our  existing  capitalistic  sys- 
tem, goes  to  the  few  who  own  the  means  of  produc- 
tion. But  we  must  here  note  another  evil  which  re- 
sults from  the  inclusion  of  Mr.  X  in  our  scheme  of  in- 
dustrial organization.. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  25 


VII 

OVER-PRODUCTION 

If  Mr.  X  were  to  add  only  $1,000  to  the  cost  of  the 
annual  production  of  wealth,  and  in  turn  spent  this 
amount  to  satisfy  his  own  wants,  he  might  be  tolerat- 
ed with  more  complacency  by  the  workers.  But  he  is 
not  satisfied  with  a  moderate  profit  sufficient  for  his 
own  support  and,  instead  of  adding  $1,000  to  the  cost 
of  the  annual  production,  he  adds  $6,000  to  it,  and 
thereby  hangs  the  tale  of  over-production  and  hard 
times. 

Could  Mr.  X  even  consume  all  that  his  $6,000  would 
buy,  things  might  be  trusted  to  proceed  smoothly, 
though  not  justly.  But  he  is  unable  to  do  this,  and 
equally  unwilling  to  do  this.  He  prefers  to  hoard  his 
money  in  order  to  reinvest  it,  and  thus  secure  larger 
profits.  Thus  Mr.  X  becomes  the  disturbing  element 
in  this  whole  .scheme.  A,  B,  C,  D,  etc.,  have  earned 
among  them  $6,000,  which  is  the  cost  of  the  year's 
production.  Mr.  X  has  added  $6,000  to  this,  making 
the  fictitious  value  of  $12,000  for  the  commodities  thus 
produced.  Now,  if  Mr.  X  were  to  consume  one-half 
of  these  goods  well  and  good;  the  workers  would  pur- 
chase and  consume  the  other  half  and  there  would  be 
no  surplus.  But  Mr.  X  does  not  purchase  and  con- 
sume $6,000  worth  of  goods,  he  purchases  only  $2,000 
worth,  retaining  $4,000  in  profits  for  reinvestment  and 
speculation.  The  workers  purchase  only  $6,000  worth 


26  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

of  goods,  for  this  is  all  they  have  to  spend.  Thus 
$4,000  worth  of  goods  must  be  carried  over  to  another 
year. 

In  the  following  year  the  same  process  is  repeat- 
ed, and  a  larger  surplus  carried  forward.  Either  new 
markets  must  be  found  to  which  this  surplus  may  be 
exported  or  production  must  cease  for  a  time,  until 
the  surplus  is  consumed  or  destroyed.  Over-produc- 
tion brings  its  inevitable  consequences  of  industrial 
collapse  and  hard  times.  The  workers  are  thrown  out 
of  employment,  and  while  markets  are  over-stocked 
with  goods  of  all  descriptions,  are  destined  to  endure 
the  hardships  of  deprivation  and  starvation  until 
equilibrium  has  again  been  established.  Meantime 
wise  men  write  books  to  establish  the  coincidence  of 
these  periods  with  the  occurrence  of  sun  spots,  or  dis- 
course knowingly  of  the  want  of  thrift  among  those 
who  are  unable  to  tide  over  these  periods  of  depres- 
sion. The  record  of  these  periods  of  industrial  de- 
pression is  in  itself  sufficient  indictment  of  the  methods 
of  Mr.  X;  with  these,  however,  we  shall  not  stop  to 
deal.  The  reader  will  find  a  faithful  and  complete  re- 
view in  Prof.  Hyndman's  "Commercial  Crises  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century/' 

Our  most  important  task  is  that  of  applying  our 
system  to  modern  industrial  conditions,  so,  leaving 
further  indictments  of  Mr.  X  to  a  future  chapter, 
let  us  proceed. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  27 


vm 

THE    FACTORY 

Under  the  new  order,  factories  will  no  longer  be 
housed  in  unsightly,  unsanitary  and  unsafe  buildings, 
which  under  capitalism  so  often  suffice  to  house  the 
workers  during  the  hours  of  labour.  Instead  of  this 
we  may  expect  to  find  buildings  such  as  men  would 
delight  to  work  in,  artistic,  substantial,  and  well 
planned  and  tidily  kept. 

Under  private  management  such  things  are  not 
possible.  Self  interest  is  the  first  law  of  business. 
The  pleasure  which  a  man  derives  from  his  work  is 
no  object  to  those  who  think  only  of  the  profits.  They 
cannot  be  made  to  consider  the  bodily  comfort  of 
those  whom  they  employ,  nor  can  they  be  made  to 
consider  the  welfare  of  the  community  in  which  their 
unsightly  structures  are  erected. 

The  state,  however,  has  no  such  selfish  motives  to 
satisfy.  Its  interest  is  that  of  all  its  people.  Hence 
we  shall  have,  under  the  new  order,  a  vastly  better 
system  of  factories  and  work-shops,  systematically 
planned  with  due  regard  to  beauty  as  well  as  to  the 
bodily  comfort  of  the  workers. 

Nor  need  we  assume  that  hours  of  labour  and 
conditions  of  work  will  remain  as  at  present.  Un- 
doubtedly shorter  hours  and  more  favourable  condi- 
tions will  prevail.  Bands  of  cheerful  and  hopeful 


28  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

workers  will  undoubtedly  take  the  place  of  present 
anxious  and  careworn  slaves  of  capitalism. 

But  this  will  lower  the  standard  of  efficiency, 
you  may  object.  Yes,  if  you  mean  that  men  are  not 
to  be  driven  to  their  utmost.  But  why  should  they  be  ? 
What  is  the  end  and  object  of  work,  if  not  to  enhance 
human  comfort  and  satisfy  human  wants?  And  why 
rob  men  of  the  pleasure  which  all  healthy  men  take 
in  their  work  when  it  is  not  over-irksome  or  too  long 
continued.  Why  rob  men  at  one  end  of  the  process 
in  order  that  they  may  have  a  surfeit  at  the  other? 
Under  capitalism  the  answer  is  plain.  The  men  who 
are  robbed  are  not  the  same  men  who  enjoy  the  sur- 
feit. Under  the  new  order  such  is  not  the  case,  hence 
the  change. 

For  reasons  assignable  to  the  better  conditions 
which  in  general  will  prevail  as  a  result  of  a  more 
equal  distribution  of  wealth,  child  labour  will  dis- 
appear, while  women  workers  will  find  sufficient  light 
and  healthful  work  for  the  employment  of  those  who 
have  not  a  sufficient  occupation  in  their  family  and 
household  duties. 

The  efficiency  of  the  factory,  however,  need  not  be 
lowered  beyond  that  which  in  some  cases  may  be 
necessary  to  prevent  sweating  of  the  workers  and  ex- 
cessive hours  of  labour.  Each  worker  competes  with 
his  fellow,  and,  as  under  present  conditions,  the  more 
expert  and  proficient  will  secure  advancement. 

Each  factory  will  be  under  the  management  of  a 
competent  director  responsible  to  a  superior  in  the 
department  of  industry.  His  duties,  however,  unlike 
those  of  the  manager  responsible  to  a  group  of  capital- 
ists, are  of  an  entirely  different  nature.  He  must  em- 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  29 

ploy  all  labour  at  rates  fixed  by  the  laws  of  com- 
petition— the  best  at  the  lowest  wage.  He  must  pur- 
chase all  material  required,  shall  we  say  again,  at  the 
lowest  market  price  ?  or  shall  we  say  at  the  price  which 
other  producers  have  fixed  as  the  actual  cost? — just 
as  he  himself  finally  determines  the  selling  price  of 
his  product,  that  is  by  adding  together  the  cost  of  the 
material  and  labour  required  in  its  production,  to- 
gether with  the  proper  percentage  to  cover  deprecia- 
tion and  renewals  of  plant  and  machinery. 

An  efficient  system  of  cost-accounting  will  be  re- 
quired to  fix  the  price  of  each  article  produced,  so  that 
at  the  end  of  the  year,  when  the  entire  product  is 
passed  over  to  the  distributing  department,  the  re- 
turns will  be  equal  to  the  cost  production,  which 
will  be  practically  the  present-day  cost  less  the  amount 
which  capitalism  adds  at  every  stage  of  production  in 
interest  and  profits. 

And  now,  having  turned  over  the  product  of  our 
factory  to  the  distributing  agency  of  the  state,  let  us 
continue  to  trace  its  history  from  the  worker  to  the 
consumer  by  applying  our  system  to  the  railways. 


30  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


IX 

THE  RAILWAYS 

The  Pennsylvania  Kailway  system  employs  over 
one  hundred  thousand  people.  Its  system  of  manage- 
ment and  control  works  smoothly,  and  little  difficulty 
is  experienced  in  adjusting  wages  in  conformity  to  the 
laws  of  demand  and  supply  of  labour.  Unconscious 
though  they  may  be  of  the  fact,  its  managers  have  set 
their  scale  of  wages  in  conformity  to  this  law,  which, 
without  the  arbitrary  regulation  of  some  superior 
governing  body,  fixes  the  graduation  of  wages  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  employee. 

Under  the  new  order  it  will  do  the  same,  excepting 
that  managers  and  superintendents  will  be  paid  for 
serving  the  public  and  not  for  serving  the  company 
as  now.  They  will  be  paid  for  their  ability  to  make 
transportation  cheap  and  not  for  their  ability  to  make 
it  dear.  High  salaries  to  officials  who  can  success- 
fully juggle  freight  rates  or  manipulate  the  stock 
market  will  of  course  cease.  The  worth  of  a  man  will 
become  the  measure  of  his  wages. 

Indeed,  little  change  is  necessary  to  bring  the 
railways  under  the  sway  of  the  new  system.  Freight 
and  passenger  rates  of  course  must  be  reduced  in  con- 
formity to  the  general  law  of  prices  according  to 
cost.  Dividends  must  cease,  and  duplication  of  ser- 
vice be  put  a  stop  to. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  31 

In  estimating  the  gain  to  be  thus  derived,  we 
must  remember  always  that  present  dividends  are  paid 
on  capitalization,  very  often  three  and  four  times 
more  than  the  value  of  the  property.  The  two 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  miles  of  railway  in  the 
United  States  are  capitalized  at  about  sixteen  billions 
of  dollars,  or  between  two  and  three  times  the  actual 
value  of  the  property.  The  annual  contribution  in  in- 
terest on  bonds  and  dividends  on  stocks  amounts  to 
over  $600,000,000,  but  this  by  no  means  measures  the 
full  saving  to  be  derived  under  the  new  order.  The 
effect  of  high  prices  is  to  prevent  people  from  buying 
and  enjoying  many  things  which  they  otherwise  would 
purchase.  The  effect  of  high  freight  and  passenger 
rates  is  to  lessen  the  number  of  passengers  and  the 
amount  of  freight  carried.  Lower  rates  will  mean  a 
greater  volume  of  business.  A  greater  volume  of  busi- 
ness can  in  turn  be  carried  at  a  smaller  cost,  hence 
at  a  still  lower  rate. 

But  a  further  saving  is  to  be  noted.  It  is  a  well 
known  fact  that  the  railways  of  Great  Britain  are  for 
the  most  part  competitors,  or,  should  we  say  instead, 
that  they  duplicate  one  another  to  such  an  extent  that 
they  dare  not  compete  lest  competition  should  drive 
them  all  into  bankruptcy? 

The  United  States  may  be  better  off  in  this  respect, 
and  yet  instances  are  not  wanting  to  prove  the  enor- 
mous waste  which  every  day  goes  on  because  of  this 
very  defect. 

' '  Every  day  in  the  year,  thirty-four  passenger 
trains  leave  New  York  for  Chicago  and  thirty-four 
passenger  trains  leave  Chicago  for  New  York.  Of 
these  thirty-four  trains,  observations  extended  over 


32  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

many  years  show  that  as  a  rule  about  fifteen  are  well 
filled,  four  vary  from  a  light  to  a  moderate  load  and 
fifteen  usually  carry  from  three  to  ten  passengers, 
have  sometimes  travelled  with  none  and  are  never 
profitably  filled.  As  a  rule  all  their  passengers  could 
without  difficulty  be  carried  by  the  other  nineteen 
trains."  * 

These  fifteen  unnecessary  trains,  according  to 
calculation,  involve  a  total  daily  expense  of  $12,000, 
or  $3,180,000  a  year.  Here  is  but  one  sample  of  the 
waste  which  results  from  duplication.  In  the  same 
way  there  is  an  estimated  waste  between  Chicago  and 
St.  Paul-Minneapolis  of  $3,314,000  a  year,  between 
Chicago  and  Kansas  City  of  $1,204,000,  and  between 
Chicago  and  Omaha  of  $1,110,000  a  year.  Similar 
instances  of  duplication  we  are  told  exist  between 
New  York  and  Atlanta,  New  York  and  New  Orleans, 
Chicago  and  California,  and  Chicago  and  Florida. 

And  why  should  this  waste  continue  under  a 
system  of  complete  government  ownership?  It  exists 
under  capitalism  because  there  is  still  rivalry  between 
railway  companies  at  terminal  points,  and  because 
each  is  clamouring  for  a  portion  of  the  traffic  between 
these  great  cities.  Doubtless  the  same  waste  is  to  be 
found  in  the  running  of  freight  trains  and  in  the  need- 
less expense  and  duplication  of  advertisements,  which 
in  all  capitalistic  undertakings  form  a  large  item  of 
expense  which  the  consumer  must  ultimately  pay. 
Under  the  new  order,  a  national  system  of  railways 
would  be  properly  planned  and  properly  constructed 
with  due  regard  to  the  needs  of  the  country  and  with- 
out needless  duplication.  Important  lines  would  be 


*    Charles   Edward    Russell    in   "Everybody's    Magazine." 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  33 

double-tracked  and  made  safe.  Employees  would  be 
better  cared  for  and  the  charges  reduced  in  all  in- 
stances to  the  exact  cost  of  the  service  performed. 
Here  again  the  proper  system  of  cost-accounting 
would  be  needed  to  determine  the  scale  of  charges. 
To  the  actual  mileage  cost  must  be  added  a  percentage 
of  the  cost  of  depreciation  of  roadbed,  rolling-stock 
and  buildings,  together  with  the  proper  percentage  for 
management  and  superintendence,  so  that  when  our 
manufacturer  turns  his  product  over  to  the  railway 
which  is  to  carry  it  to  the  store  in  the  city,  he  will 
know  that  to  the  cost  which  he  has  fixed,  the  railway 
will  add  only  the  actual  cost  of  carrying  it  to  market, 
and  no  more,  and  that  with  this  added  to  the  cost  it 
will  arrive  at  the  store. 


34  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


THE    STORE 

In  the  town  in  which  I  live  there  are  at  least 
twenty  grocery  stores  supplying  a  population  of  some 
five  thousand.  Every  morning  these  twenty  stores 
start  out  at  least  twenty  delivery  wagons.  These 
twenty  wagons  go  criss-crossing  about  all  day  long, 
each  having  a  few  customers  here  and  a  few  there  in 
all  parts  of  the  town.  A  half  dozen  butchers  add 
another  half  dozen  wagons  to  the  number  in  the  same 
unsystematic  hurry-scurry  of  the  day's  business. 
Another  score  of  wagons  go  hither  and  thither  with 
milk,  bread,  laundry,  etc.,  and  the  whole  lot  go  racing 
about  in  all  directions,  criss-crossing  about  in  a  man- 
ner which,  if  it  were  true  of  a  colony  of  ants,  would 
lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that  some  evil  spirit  had  in- 
fested the  tribe  and  had  robbed  them  of  their  wits. 
Yet  these  are  not  ants,  they  are  men,  and  men  who 
boast  of  the  high  state  of  efficiency  of  modern  business 
methods.  But  this  is  but  another  bewildering  feature 
of  the  methods  of  Mr.  X — a  feature  which  may  be  ob- 
served time  and  time  again  in  every  city  and  hamlet 
in  the  land. 

It  would  not  be  puzzling  to  devise  a  better  method 
than  this  for  serving  the  daily  wants  of  the  city's 
population,  and  under  the  new  order  this  foolish  and 
wasteful  duplication  will  certainly  cease.  In  the  first 
place,  there  will  be  no  need  of  the  twenty  separate 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  35 

stores  with  their  twenty  separate  sets  of  books  and 
customers,  or  their  twenty  staffs  of  clerks  and  twenty 
delivery  wagons  with  their  twenty  drivers.  One-third 
of  this  number  of  persons  could  undoubtedly  do  the 
work  equally  well.  There  will  no  longer  be  twenty 
show-windows  with  twenty  sets  of  advertising  matter, 
or  twenty  separate  advertisements  in  the  local  news- 
papers. One  big  store  will  do  all  the  work  with  one- 
quarter  the  effort  and  possibly  less  than  one-quarter 
of  the  expense. 

Let  us  assume  that  the  town  owns  and  operates 
this  store  which  does  the  work  of  twenty  grocers,  five 
or  six  confectioners,  one-half  dozen  butchers,  five  or 
six  dry-goods  merchants,  a  score  of  milkmen  and 
numerous  other  smaller  dealers,  who  have  all  merged 
into  one  great  store,  well  planned  and  systematically 
managed;  and  let  us  note  the  numerous  economics 
which  will  follow. 

In  the  first  place,  since  there  is  no  competition 
there  need  be  no  extravagant  system  of  advertising. 
All  that  the  customer  needs  to  know  is  the  list  of  goods 
on  hand  and  the  price  of  each  item,  and  this  may  be 
published  from  time  to  time  as  changes  make  revision 
necessary.  This  alone  means  a  large  saving  to  the 
customer. 

Again,  we  must  note  the  economy  of  better  or- 
ganization and  more  systematic  methods  in  every 
branch  of  the  work,  book-keeping,  management,  em- 
ployment of  help,  distribution  and  soliciting  of  busi- 
ness. 

Apart  from  the  immediate  economy  of  better 
methods,  other  advantages  are  to  be  noted.  The 
modern  store,  under  the  artful  management  of  Mr. 


:)()  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

X,  must  undergo  a  metamorphosis  at  least  every  three 
months.  New  styles  must  be  introduced  to  catch  new 
business,  and  woe  unto  the  man  who  is  unable  to  keep 
pace  with  these  changes.  Every  store  must  make  its 
display  of  new  fall  and  spring  styles,  and  throw  into 
the  scrap-heap  its  left-overs  from  the  season  before. 
Customers  are  lured  by  every  possibly  device  to  buy 
new  goods  before  old  ones  have  been  worn  out.  The 
latest  thing  in  hats  must  be  worn,  in  order  to  keep 
pace  with  your  neighbor  who  has  been  to  the  store 
before  you,  to  be  fitted  by  some  obsequious  clerk  who 
assures  you  that  it  is  the  very  latest  mode  and  the 
cost  is — well,  we  had  better  not  mention  the  price  of 
the  gaudy  creations  which  last  for  their  brief  day  only 
to  be  outshone  by  "the  very  latest  and  most  up-to- 
date.  " 

And  so  it  goes  on  throughout  the  whole  list  of 
things  which  we  must  wear  in  order  to  keep  pace  with 
the  lively  imaginations  of  those  whose  business  it  is 
to  create  new  modes  and  mould  new  fashions.  And 
what  need  of  it  ?  Under  the  new  order  a  more  rational 
dress  will  inevitably  be  evolved  and  we  trust  such  sud- 
den changes  and  foolish  extremes  may  be  avoided. 
And  all  this  will  cheapen  and  improve  the  quality  of 
those  things  which  we  do  need  and  will  be  able  to  get 
under  a  more  rational  system. 

But  the  store  under  the  management  of  Mr.  X 
has  an  even  more  serious  fault  than  this.  Mr.  X 
knows  full  well  that  it  does  not  pay  to  make  things 
too  good  in  quality.  Good  things  have  the  unhappy 
faculty  of  lasting  altogether  too  long,  which  means  a 
diminished  number  of  sales.  The  sooner  my  boots 
wear  out,  the  sooner  I  must  return  for  a  new  pair, 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  37 

and  since  boots  which  wear  quickly  cost  less  to  pro- 
duce than  boots  which  wear  slowly,  it  were  certainly 
folly  of  which  Mr.  X  is  not  guilty  to  have  them  made 
strong. 

What  is  true  of  boots  is  true  of  many  things. 
The  patient  housewife  must  examine  every  piece  of 
fabric  which  she  buys  over  the  counter,  in  order  to 
determine  its  worth.  She  goes  into  the  store  knowing 
that  her  interests  and  those  of  the  merchant  are 
diametrically  opposed,  and  she  must  be  ever  elert,  for 
she  is  playing  the  game  with  an  opponent  who  loads 
the  dice.  But  when  Mr.  X  has  been  eliminated  from 
the  equation,  a  different  result  is  possible.  The  clerk 
now  becomes  the  servant  of  a  master  who  owes  his 
allegiance  to  the  sovereign  people ;  his  duty  is  to  know 
what  he  is  selling  and  to  sell  what  his  customer  is  in 
need  of.  There  is  no  longer  the  incentive  to  deceive 
the  customer.  Each  piece  of  goods  will  be  known  and 
tried  before  handing  it  to  the  customer.  Shoddy  will 
give  place  to  genuineness  in  all  departments,  and 
where  it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  dealer  to  serve  the 
customer  and  not  the  capitalist,  well-made  com- 
modities will  replace  the  careless  and  fraudulent  work 
of  Mr.  X,  and  we  shall  have  an  honest  shop  with  honest 
goods  and  honest  prices. 

For  now,  having  arrived  at  the  store,  the  com- 
modity which  we  have  been  tracing  since  it  left  the 
factory  will  be  handed  to  the  customer,  stamped  with 
its  true  history  and  brand,  with  the  proper  percentage 
added  for  storing  and  selling;  for  the  store,  like  all 
other  undertakings  under  the  new  order,  will  earn 
only  sufficient  to  defray  expenses,  and  its  charges  will 
be  made  accordingly. 


38  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XI 

THE   FARM 

In  a  new  and  growing  country  the  safest  and 
surest  way  of  growing  rich  is  to  buy  land.  Land  is 
something  which  people  must  have  and  cannot  do 
without.  Sooner  or  later  the  coming  of  population 
will  make  it  valuable ;  that  is  to  say,  it  will  make  it 
possible  for  the  owner  to  either  demand  an  enhanced 
price  for  it,  or  to  charge  rent  for  it.  No  method 
of  reaping  wealth  could  be  safer,  and  none  surer  than 
this,  and  this  is  one  of  the  things  which  Mr.  X  is  not 
likely  to  forget. 

But  how,  under  the  new  order,  are  we  to  ad- 
minister our  lands  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  this 
consequence?  Obviously,  the  land  must  belong  to  the 
state,  and  under  no  circumstances  must  the  state  allow 
any  portion  of  it  to  pass  from  its  control. 

Must  the  state  charge  rent  for  the  land?  Yes, 
answer  the  followers  of  Henry  George,  the  state  must 
appropriate  its  full  rental  value.  But  to  this  we  are 
unable  to  agree,  because  it  does  not  harmonize  with 
our  system,  and  so  we  reach  the  question :  What  shall 
we  do  with  our  farmers  ? 

Before  answering  this,  however,  let  us  consider  a 
little  more  in  detail  what  we  are  doing  with  them  now. 
In  the  first  place,  the  speculator  is  making  the  farmer 
pay  a  good  price  for  his  farm  whenever  possible. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  39 

Next,  the  railway  fleeces  him  with  exhorbitant  freight 
charges,  then  the  manufacturer  bleeds  him  for  his 
farm  implements,  and  lastly  the  middleman  who  buys 
his  crops  and  his  cattle  combine  to  keep  his  prices  to 
the  lowest  limit.  Finally,  he  is  in  debt.  The  money- 
lender who  holds  a  mortgage  on  his  farm  is  prac- 
tically the  owner  of  the  property.  Sooner  or  later 
our  farmers  will  be  in  what  in  many  countries  they 
are  now,  simply  tenants  who  pay  rent.  Or  at  least 
the  proportion  who  own  their  farms  will  have  become 
insignificant. 

But  the  waste  of  capitalistic  methods  is  not  alone 
confined  to  industries  of  manufacturing  and  distribut- 
ing. It  is  to  be  found  as  well  on  the  farm.  The  small 
proprietors  working  independently  are  at  a  serious 
disadvantage.  Each  has  his  separate  set  of  tools, 
ploughs,  harrows,  rakes,  threshers,  binders,  etc.  Each 
has  his  separate  set  of  buildings,  each  his  separate 
herd  and  flock,  and  each  his  multiplicity  of  duties, 
keeping  him  busy  from  early  morn  till  late  at  night. 
Each  sends  his  separate  contribution  to  market ;  a  little 
of  this,  a  little  of  that,  and  not  much  of  any  one  thing. 
One  man  has  land  suitable  for  grazing  and  not  suit- 
able for  crops,  another  holds  land  which  will  grow 
good  crops,  but  which  must  be  given  up  to  a  large  ex- 
tent to  grazing,  and  so  it  goes. 

Let  us  see,  now,  if  we  cannot  devise  a  better 
method.  Mr.  X  has  something  to  teach  us  even  here. 
He  has  devised  what  is  known  as  the  Bonanza  farm. 
This  farm  contains  thousands  of  acres  of  land  which 
are  cultivated  under  the  supervision  of  some  com- 
petent expert  agriculturist  who  knows  how  to  get  the 
most  from  his  enterprise.  These  Bonanza  farms,  under 


40  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

the  management  of  Mr.  X,  are  by  no  means  attractive 
places.  We  are  told  that  they  support  no  families, 
no  women,  no  children  and  no  homes,  because  there  is 
an  abundance  of  cheap  help  to  be  had,  and  men  with 
families  are  not  needed. 

But  now  picture  what  these  Bonanza  farms  will 
be  like  under  a  better  system.  May  they  not  be  laid 
out  as  you  would  lay  out  a  park,  with  orchards, 
pastures  and  woodlands  artistically  interspersed,  road- 
ways lined  with  trees,  buildings  of  artistic  design,  and 
homes  of  comfortable  and  attractive  houses,  not  run 
together  in  symmetrical  alignment,  but  grouped  with 
the  skill  of  one  who  has  been  trained  in  the  art  of  mak- 
ing things  beautiful! 

Will  not  this  answer  the  requirements  of  our 
system?  Each  man  will  be  employed  according  to  his 
merit  and  paid  accordingly,  and,  just  as  in  the  factory, 
the  cost  of  production  may  be  measured  in  wages 
paid  out.  Each  man  will  be  free  to  apply  for  the  task 
which  he  finds  most  attractive.  Division  of  labour  be- 
comes possible  to  an  extent  which  is  entirely  absent 
from  the  individual  farm.  Hours  of  labour  may  be 
shortened  and  the  farmer's  family  no  longer  obliged 
to  join  in  the  endless  round  of  duties  which  on  the 
individual  farm  require  their  entire  attention.  The 
farmer's  wife  will  have  leisure  to  her  family.  His 
children  will  have  proper  opportunities  for  education, 
for  since  with  all  other  unearned  increment,  rent  has 
been  abolished,  there  will  be  sufficient  of  the  world's 
good  things  for  all  to  enjoy,  and  the  farmer  will  not 
be  the  least  among  those  to  benefit  by  the  change. 

Failures  of  crops  will  no  longer  be  his  individual 
loss.  Failure  of  markets  will  no  longer  rob  him  of 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  41 

the  fruits  of  his  toil,  but  with  his  gains  safe  and  cer- 
tain, he  may  go  forward  to  his  daily  task  with  a  great- 
er joy  in  his  work  than  he  can  ever  know  under  the 
system  in  which  Mr.  X  is  master. 


42  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XII 

MONEY    AND    BANKS 

To  the  man  on  the  street,  the  source  of  the  money 
which  he  uses  in  his  every-day  business  remains  for  the 
most  part  an  insoluble  mystery.  Ask  him  why  it  is 
that  those  little  pieces  of  crisp  paper  are  accepted 
everywhere  as  a  sufficient  payment  for  commodities 
which  he  purchases,  and  in  all  probability  he  will  be 
unable  to  give  any  definite  explanation.  It  is  suf- 
ficient for  him  to  know  that  they  constitute  money 
and  will  purchase  anything  for  which  he  desires  to 
spend  them.  Suggest  to  him  that  he  has  as  much  right 
as  the  banks  or  any  company  of  individuals  to  print 
paper  bills  and  circulate  them,  and  that  this  would 
afford  him  an  easy  means  of  living,  and  in  all  prob- 
ability you  will  find  that  he  has  some  vague  notion 
that  each  of  these  bits  of  paper  is  but  the  counterpart 
of  a  golden  dollar  which  some  day,  somewhere,  must 
be  paid  to  the  man  who  demands  it. 

Those  who  have  been  initiated  into  the  methods  of 
finance  and  banking,  however,  know  that  such  is  not 
the  case,  and  that  if  everybody  were  to  be  seized  sud- 
denly with  a  desire  to  have  gold  instead  of  the  paper 
currency  issued  by  the  banks,  only  about  five  per  cent 
or  seven  per  cent  of  the  amount  of  paper  could  be  re- 
placed by  gold.  When  this  has  been  made  clear  to 
him,  he  may  possibly  be  able  to  understand  the 
gigantic  monopoly  which  the  banks  enjoy.  The  govern- 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  43 

ment  grants  them  their  charters  on  certain  conditions, 
varying  slightly  in  different  countries,  but  always 
amounting  to  the  same  thing  in  the  end.  They  are 
empowered  to  issue  paper  money  secured  to  a  small 
percentage  by  government  bonds  or  a  reserve  of  gold, 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  per  cent  being  the  general 
rule. 

That  is  to  say,  the  government  issues  bonds  on 
which  it  undertakes  to  pay  interest.  The  interest  upon 
these  bonds  constitutes  a  tax  upon  the  whole  nation. 
The  banks  purchase  these  bonds  and  collect  the  in- 
terest, and  with  these  as  security  proceed  to  issue 
paper  money,  which  in  turn  is  loaned  to  the  people 
at  a  much  higher  rate  of  interest. 

That  is  to  say,  by  a  legalized  process,  the  banks 
are  empowered  to  print  slips  of  paper  and  pass  them 
out  at  their  wickets  as  real  money  to  the  people.  Out 
of  a  little  paper  and  printing  the  banks  are  made 
richer  by  millions  and  millions  of  dollars,  just  as  a 
clever  counterfeiter  might  be  enriched  by  successfully 
passing  his  false  notes.  The  money,  or  paper,  costs 
the  banks  little  or  nothing  to  produce.  Its  value  as 
currency  is  derived  solely  from  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  made  legal  by  the  government  which  sanctions 
its  issue. 

Here  then  is  the  solution  of  the  mystery  of  money, 
a  solution  which  discloses  the  gigantic  monopoly  which 
the  banks  enjoy  at  the  expense  of  the  common  people, 
who  must  have  mony  in  order  to  carry  on  the  busi- 
ness of  every-day  life. 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  story  of  money.  Let  us 
look  up  the  banks'  statement  of  loans  and  deposits, 
and  we  will  find  that  they  exceed,  by  five  to  six  times, 


44  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

the  amount  of  actual  and  paper  money  which  the  banks 
issue,  and  that  the  average  rate  of  interest  on  loans  is 
six  per  cent,  while  the  average  paid  on  deposits  is 
somewhat  less  than  one  per  cent.  That  is  to  say,  the 
banks  loan  their  supply  of  money  to  the  people  five  or 
six  times  over,  at  six  per  cent,  and  borrow  it  back  in 
the  form  of  deposits,  five  or  six  times  over,  at  an  aver- 
age of  less  than  one  per  cent. 

Thus,  for  example,  A  borrows  $100  from  the  bank 
in  order  to  pay  B  an  amount  which  is  owing  him.  B 
immediately  carries  the  money  back  to  the  bank  and 
places  it  to  his  credit.  The  bank  again  loans  the 
amount  to  C,  who  pays  it  over  to  D,  who  again  deposits 
it  in  the  bank.  Again  it  is  loaned  to  E  and  again  de- 
posited by  F,  and  so  on  until  it  passes  through  the 
hands  of  G,  H?  I,  J.  and  finally  back  to  A.  A,  C,  E, 
G,  I,  are  all  borrowers  at  six  per  cent,  B,  D,  F,  H,  and 
J  are  depositors  who  receive  one  per  cent.  Thus  a 
vast  system  of  credit  is  built  up,  out  of  which  the 
banks  reap  enormous  profits,  and  which  the  slightest 
uneasiness  of  the  business  world  may  cause  to  crumble 
like  a  pack  of  cards.  Under  such  conditions  the 
wonder  is,  not  that  we  have  financial  panics  and  money 
stringencies,  but  that  the  system  endures  even  in  the 
face  of  such  calamities. 

Banking  is  a  most  profitable  business  while  every- 
thing goes  well,  but  when  people  lose  confidence  and 
begin  to  withdraw  their  deposits  failure  is  inevitable. 
The  banks  can  satisfy  only  a  portion  of  their  custom- 
ers. The  remainder  must  lose,  or,  if  the  institution 
should  survive,  wait  until  confidence  is  restored,  when 
the  process  of  deposit  and  loan  is  again  begun  and 
business  goes  on  in  the  usual  way. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  45 

But  why  must  we  do  business  in  this  way  ?  Simply 
because  Mr.  X  says  that  it  is  the  only  sane  and  safe 
system  of  issuing  money,  and  that  any  change  would 
work  ruin  and  disaster  to  the  nation.  Under  the  new 
order,  without  the  sage  advice  of  Mr.  X  we  shall  do 
differently.  The  people  themselves,  through  their 
government,  shall  issue  all  the  paper  money  required 
for  the  transaction  of  their  affairs. 

Let  us  return  to  our  imaginary  community,  con- 
sisting of  A,  B,  C,  D,  etc.,  and  see  how  this  will  work 
out.  At  the  beginning  of  the  season,  A,  B,  C,  D,  etc., 
are  employed.  When  their  wages  become  due,  the 
government  simply  issues  paper  money  sufficient  to 
cover  the  amount.  At  the  end  of  the  year  they  have 
earned  their  $6,000,  which  is  the  sum  total  of  the  wages 
paid  to  them.  The  government  has  issued  $6,000  in 
paper  money,  and,  in  return  for  this,  has  in  its  pos- 
session the  $6,000  of  actual  goods  produced.  That  is 
to  say,  the  government  has  issued  a  dollar  in  paper 
for  every  dollar's  worth  of  value  added  to  production. 
When  the  $6,000  worth  of  goods  have  been  sold  to  the 
workers,  the  $6,000  of  paper  will  have  been  paid  back 
to  the  government,  and  at  any  period,  either  during 
production — for  production  and  consumption  must  go 
on  simultaneously — there  is  an  exact  balance  between 
the  money  issued  and  the  value  of  the  goods  standing 
to  the  government's  credit. 

But,  now  let  us  introduce  Mr.  X  once  more  into 
our  imaginary  community  and  note  the  result.  Mr. 
X  owns  the  bank  and  has  a  monopoly  of  the  power  to 
issue  money.  When  the  government  wants  money  to 
pay  its  men,  it  must  borrow  from  Mr.  X.  Mr.  X  is 
generous  with  the  government,  much  more  so  than 


46  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

with  you  and  me  and  other  private  citizens  and  com- 
panies. He  lends  to  it  at  about  three  per  cent  in- 
terest, and  this  three  per  cent  must  be  added  to  the 
cost  of  production  in  order  that  there  may  not  be  a 
deficit  in  the  year's  business.  Thus  it  is  passed  on  to 
the  consumer  who  is  taxed  to  support  Mr.  X,  the 
banker. 

An  actual  case  will  better  illustrate  this  point. 
We  have  it  in  the  New  Zealand  railways,  which  while 
following  the  general  policy  of  earning  no  profits,  are 
nevertheless  taxed  three  per  cent  by  the  money-lend- 
ers to  whom  the  government  is  indebted  for  loans  suf- 
ficient to  cover  the  cost  of  purchasing  and  construct- 
ing the  lines. 

But  this  brings  us  to  another  phase  of  our  sub- 
ject. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  47 


XIII 

STOCKS    AND    BONDS 

To  raise  money  for  government  undertakings,  the 
usual  practice  is  to  sell  government  bonds.  The 
government  legalizes  the  bank.  The  bank  creates 
money  and  the  government  borrows  the  money  and 
pays  the  bank  interest,  and  so  the  people  are  taxed  to 
enrich  the  shareholders  of  the  banks.  By  a  similar 
process,  private  companies  secure  money  for  their 
creation  of  new  industries  and  the  enlargement  of  old 
ones. 

The  creation  of  stocks  and  bonds  enables  the  com- 
pany to  borrow  the  bank's  money,  which  after  pass- 
ing through  a  number  of  hands  is  finally  redeposited, 
to  be  again  reloaned.  But  it  is  not  always  for  the 
purpose  of  acquiring  money  that  new  stocks  are  is- 
sued. Bonds  constitute  a  first  mortgage  on  the  prop- 
erty, and  are  generally  within  the  actual  cost  of  the 
investment.  Stocks  constitute  a  mortgage  on  the 
earning  capacity  of  the  property  and  consequently 
may  exceed  many  times  the  actual  value  of  the  invest- 
ment. It  is  generally  accepted  as  the  wiser  policy  to 
increase  the  amount  of  stock  upon  which  dividends 
are  to  be  paid,  rather  than  to  increase  the  rate  of 
dividend,  or  in  other  words  to  capitalize  the  earning 
power  of  the  enterprise. 

This  is  conveniently  done  by  amalgamating  one 


48  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

company  with  another,  or  by  a  reorganization  of  the 
existing  company  whereby  two,  three  or  any  number 
of  new  shares  are  exchanged  for  one  share  of  the 
stock  of  the  old  company.  In  this  way  the  public  is 
easily  deceived  concerning  the  real  earnings  of  the 
company.  In  this  way  we  are  kept  from  knowing  the 
extent  to  which  we  are  robbed  by  our  perplexing 
Mr.  X. 

Thus,  the  Steel  Trust,  with  properties  worth  $300,- 
000,000,  is  capitalized  at  $1,600,000,000,  or  over  five 
times  its  actual  value.  Thus  the  seven  per  cent 
dividend  paid  on  preferred  stock  would  be  about 
thirty-five  or  thirty-six  per  cent  on  the  actual  value 
of  the  property. 

"About  twenty  years  ago  the  right  of  way  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  Eailway  was  worth  $50,000,000.  It 
is  now  worth  $175,000,000."  At  least  these  are  the 
figures  given  by  Mr.  Charles  Edward  Russell,  though 
I  find,  on  turning  to  my  stockbroker's  lists,  that  this 
railway  is  capitalized  for  $191,365,500  in  bonds  and 
$248,000,000  in  stock,  or  a  total  of  $439,250,000.  Pos- 
sibly when  Mr.  Russell  reads  this  he  will  be  able  to  ex- 
plain the  seeming  discrepancy,  for  he  knows  far  more 
about  such  things  than  I  do.  What  I  do  know,  how- 
ever, is  that  these  great  companies  are  nearly  all  of 
them  capitalized  far  beyond  the  actual  value  of  the 
property,  and  these  few  instances  are  among  the 
many  known  cases,  which  in  turn  form  a  small  pro- 
portion of  the  unknown  cases  of  over-capitalization 
which,  as  Professor  Huxley  would  say,  "are  sheltered 
under  good  opaque  bricks  and  mortar."  On  all  this 
capitalization  the  common  people,  for  whom  the  busi- 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  49 

ness  of  the  country  is  carried  on,  must  pay  interest 
and  dividends. 

But  the  question  to  which  I  have  been  leading 
up  is  this :  What  is  to  become  of  all  these  stocks  and 
bonds  when  the  common  people  decide  to  carry  on  the 
country's  business  themselves,  without  the  aid  of  Mr. 
X?  Are  we  to  compensate  these  stockholders  in  full 
for  the  fictitious  value  of  their  stock  ?  And  if  so,  with 
what  kind  of  money  are  we  to  liquidate  the  debt? 
Ere  this  little  volume  has  been  perused  thus  far,  no 
doubt  these  questions  will  have  already  presented 
themselves  to  the  minds  of  the  thoughtful  reader,  and 
as  the  answer  must  solve  the  biggest  riddle  of  our  in- 
dustrial system,  the  reader  is  cautioned  to  go  slowly. 

Let  us  keep  in  mind  the  idea  of  a  perfect  balance 
between  money  issued  and  work  performed.  If,  under 
the  new  order,  each  dollar's  worth  of  wealth  created 
is  to  be  represented  by  a  dollar  of  paper  money,  then 
all  the  great  highways  of  trade,  and  tools  of  produc- 
tion, must  be  represented  by  their  actual  value  in  dol- 
lars of  paper  money.  If,  under  our  new  system,  we 
were  to  create  a  new  enterprise,  such  as  would  be 
represented  in  the  building  of  a  new  railway,  we  must 
issue  money,  dollar  for  dollar  as  the  work  proceeds, 
until  the  entire  undertaking  is  completed  and  paid 
for. 

Does  not  this,  then,  answer  the  question  of  com- 
pensation? To  accomplish  the  same  end,  we  must 
purchase  the  machinery  of  production  at  its  actual 
value. 

The  extreme  socialist  will  say  that  we  should 
confiscate  these  properties,  and  that  these  owners  have 
already  been  paid  over  and  over  again  in  dividends  and 


50  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

profits  which  they  have  been  enabled  to  filch  from  the 
common  people.  And,  to  a  certain  extent,  he  is  per- 
fectly correct.  We,  however,  have  not  had  sufficient 
forethought  to  provide  ourselves  with  these  things, 
and  since  we  have  allowed  these  conditions  to  arise, 
we  must  consider  ourselves  in  some  measure  re- 
sponsible, and  perhaps  may  be  some  day  satisfied,  if 
we  are  able  to  purchase  them  even  at  their  capitalized 
value. 

The  conservative,  on  the  other  hand,  will  be 
equally  shocked  at  the  idea  of  paying  for  something 
with  nothing,  which  will  probably  express  the  idea 
which  many  will  form  of  a  proposal  to  acquire  prop- 
erty by  the  issue  of  paper  money. 

But,  let  me  remind  my  conservative  friend  that 
the  paper  money  of  the  banks  cannot  be  turned  dollar 
for  dollar  into  gold  coin,  and  that  the  world's  great 
system  of  credit  is  built  up  on  a  mere  seven  per  cent 
of  gold,  which  is  all  that  could  be  paid  out  if  simul- 
taneously everybody  were  to  demand  gold  payments; 
that  iron,  and  steel,  and  copper,  and  brick,  and  mortar, 
and  stone,  and  wood  are  just  as  good  security  upon 
which  to  issue  paper  money,  as  is  the  gold  bullion 
which  is  shipped  backwards  and  forwards  between 
nations  as  credit  fluctuates  from  one  to  the  other.  A 
real,  live  enterprise,  such  as  a  railway  or  a  factory, 
forms  just  as  safe  a  basis  for  the  issue  of  credit  money, 
as  it  does  for  the  issue  of  stocks  and  bonds. 

I  have  gone  into  this  at  some  length  because  of 
its  bearing  upon  the  question  of  the  transition  from 
the  old  to  the  new  order.  To  describe  the  conditions 
which  will  prevail  under  the  new  order,  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  dispel  all  doubts  concerning  the  stability  of 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  51 

the  people's  money  when  it  represents  the  people's 
property,  for  when  the  government  is  the  sole  employer 
of  labour,  sole  vendor  of  commodities,  and  sole  issuer 
of  money,  what  possible  calamity  can  ever  make  that 
money  worthless? 

The  government's  ability  to  give  value  dollar  for 
dollar  for  the  money  which  it  issues  should  be  a  suf- 
ficient guarantee  and  one  far  more  to  be  depended 
upon  than  that  of  the  banks,  which  in  times  of  com- 
mercial and  financial  crisis,  have  to  suspend  payment, 
and  could  not  at  any  moment  find  value  to  cover  their 
deposits. 

What  will  happen  is  that  stocks  and  bonds  on 
which  we  now  pay  interest  and  dividends,  will  be  re- 
placed, at  least  to  the  value  of  the  property  which 
they  represent,  with  credit  money  bearing  no  interest, 
every  dollar  of  credit  money  being  represented  by  a 
dollar  in  value  of  the  property  which  it  represents, 
and  since  this  property  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  X  is  con- 
sidered sufficient  security  for  the  issue  of  interest- 
bearing  securities  equal  sometimes  to  several  times 
their  value,  it  is  somewhat  absurd  to  question  the 
soundness  of  the  government's  issue  of  securities 
bearing  no  interest,  to  the  actual  value  of  the  property. 


52  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

XIV 

DEMAND    AND    SUPPLY 

How  are  we  to  maintain  a  proper  balance  between 
demand  and  supply  of  commodities,  if  prices  are  no 
longer  to  rise  and  fall  according  to  scarcity  of  com- 
modities; and  between  demand  and  supply  of  labour, 
under  our  new  order  ?  Were  it  not  that  we  have  a  far 
better  answer,  we  might  reply  by  asking  another 
question:  How  do  we  balance  these  factors  under 
capitalism?  To  which  the  answer  is  that  they  are  not 
balanced  under  capitalism  and  that  it  is  this  want  of 
balance  which  constitutes  one  of  the  worst  features 
of  the  present  system. 

We  have  already  explained  the  cause  of  industrial 
depression  by  reference  to  our  imaginary  community. 
Here  we  propose  to  deal  further  with  the  actual  facts 
as  recorded  by  history. 

Professor  Hyndman,  in  the  introduction  to  his 
admirable  little  work  "Commercial  Crises  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,"  says: 

"It  is  certain,  at  any  rate,  that  at  no  period  prior 
to  the  growth  of  what  is  now  known  as  the  capitalis- 
tic system  of  production — the  system  of  production, 
that  is  to  say,  of  articles  of  social  use  for  profit  by  free 
labourers  who  are  paid  wages — did  difficulties  arise 
in  the  trade  or  finance  of  any  community  from  an 
actual  superfluity  of  wealth  which  the  members  of 
that  community  needed  in  their  daily  life." 

Such  crises  are  known  to  have  occurred  in  1815, 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  53 

1825, 1836, 1839, 1847, 1857, 1866, 1873, 1882,  1890, 1907, 
and  in  each  of  these  periods  of  depression,  following 
the  commercial  and  industrial  crises,  the  same  condi- 
tions have  prevailed — unemployment  of  labour,  and 
hard  times,  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  And  as  long  as  we 
endure  the  system  of  production  for  profit,  just  so 
long  will  we  have  financial  panics,  and  periods  of  in- 
dustrial depression. 

But  what  of  conditions  under  the  new  order? 
Have  we  not  already  seen  that  such  crises  will  be  im- 
possible; that  the  creation  of  wealth  being  coincident 
with  the  creation  of  credit  money,  the  workers  will 
always  possess  sufficient  wealth  to  purchase  the  wealth 
which  they  produce?  As  long  as  the  total  credit  is- 
sue equals  the  total  value  of  wealth  produced  that 
balance  is  maintained  between  production  and  con- 
sumption which  is  necessary  to  prevent  over-produc- 
tion. 

Men  can  only  produce  more  than  they  wish  to  con- 
sume by  accumulating  more  money  than  they  wish  to 
spend,  and  since,  under  the  new  order  money  will 
not  multiply  in  the  night  or  gather  interest  from  in- 
vestment, it  will  have  no  other  value  except  in  ex- 
change, and  must,  therefore,  ultimately  be  spent  to 
purchase  the  commodities  with  which  its  creation  was 
coincident. 

Again,  since  each  new  creation  of  wealth,  ac- 
companied by  a  new  creation  of  credit,  increases  the 
purchasing  power  of  the  workers  to  the  extent  neces- 
sary to  cover  the  increase  in  production,  it  follows 
that,  no  matter  how  great  or  how  small  the  number  of 
workers  may  be,  the  balance  is  still  maintained.  There 
can,  therefore,  never  be  a  deficiency  in  the  demand  for 


54  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

labour,  there  can  be  no  unemployment.  Thus  under 
our  system  there  can  never  be  over-production  and 
there  can  never  be  unemployment. 

But,  some  one  will  ask,  how  are  you  going  to  reg- 
ulate the  supply  of  articles  which  the  people  want,  so 
that  there  will  not  be  a  surplus  of  one  commodity,  and 
a  deficit  of  another?  And  how  are  you  going  to  pre- 
vent the  entire  consumption  of  such  commodities  the 
supply  of  which  is  limited,  as  in  the  case  of  a  short- 
age of  crops  ? 

True,  it  may  seem  that  unless  prices  are  to  be  in- 
creased in  correspondence  to  scarcity,  such  things  may 
be  immediately  consumed,  leaving  an  entire  scarcity 
at  times  when  it  is  impossible  to  produce  more. 

It  is  this  argument  that  political  economists  of 
the  old  school  put  forward  in  defending  speculation. 
They  hold  that  it  a  wise  expedient  to  allow  specu- 
lators to  operate  on  the  wheat  market,  that  by  so  do- 
ing they  may  prevent  hasty  consumption  in  seasons  in 
which  the  supply  falls  short. 

A  wise  expedient  no  doubt,  so  long  as  none  better 
is  to  be  found,  but  must  we  admit  that  there  is  no  bet- 
ter way  of  preventing  famine  than  that  which  confines 
the  famine  to  those  of  small  means,  increasing  the 
price  so  that  the  poor  can  have  none,  and  the  wealthy 
purchase  theirs  at  a  price  which  makes  some  one  else 
rich !  Must  we  add  to  the  calamity  by  increasing  the 
profits  of  speculators,  or  shall  we  some  day  find  a 
better  and  more  just  means  of  tiding  over  such  periods  ? 

In  the  first  place  let  me  point  out  that  shortage 
of  crops  must  increase  the  price  to  a  certain  extent. 
The  same  labour  may  be  expended  in  cultivation  in  a 
bad  year  as  in  a  good  year,  and  the  crop  be  valued  ac- 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  55 

cordingly.  A  small  crop  costing  the  same  as  a  large 
crop,  must  necessarily  be  dearer  per  bushel. 

In  the  next  place,  production  under  a  national 
system  enables  us  to  know  without  difficulty  the 
amount  of  each  crop  and  the  extent  of  the  market. 
In  times  of  shortage,  therefore,  the  Government 
through  its  distributing  agency  would  be  able  to  re- 
strict its  sales  in  order  to  prevent  famine  or  dis- 
astrous results.  In  the  same  manner  the  possession  of 
reliable  statistics  would  enable  us  at  any  time  to  pre- 
vent an  inordinate  over-production  in  any  line  of  in- 
dustry. But  this  point  I  can  best  elucidate  with  a 
quotation  from  my  "Constructive  Socialism." 

"Though  it  is  evident  that  under  socialism  a  gen- 
eral over-production  cannot  occur,  it  is  nevertheless 
plain  that  local  over-production  may  occur.  The  re- 
sults of  such  over-production  as  may  thus  occur  will 
be  manifest  if  we  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  pro- 
duction of  credit  money  is  coincident  with  the  produc- 
tion of  wealth.  If,  for  instance,  more  boots  are  pro- 
duced than  are  required  by  society,  the  credit  money 
thus  created  will  produce  an  increased  demand  for 
other  commodities.  Labour  must  be  transferred  from 
one  industry  to  the  other  in  order  to  maintain  the 
balance.  The  labour  not  required  in  boot-making  will 
immediately  be  required  in  some  other  industry.  Such 
occurrences  need  not  necessarily  be  of  a  serious  nature, 
for,  when  industry  has  all  become  concentrated  under 
one  management,  proper  statistics  and  information  re- 
garding production  and  consumption  will  be  readily 
obtainable,  so  that  production  could  always  be  reg- 
ulated to  suit  demand,  at  least  within  a  small  margin, 
one  way  or  the  other. " 


56  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XV 

THE    TWO    METHODS 

And  now,  having  outlined  briefly  our  system,  hav- 
ing shown  its  application  to  the  factory,  the  railway, 
the  store  and  the  bank,  and  having  given  briefly  an 
outline  of  its  general  application,  the  reader  may 
easily  trace  its  application  to  other  forms  of  industry 
and  business.  He  can,  with  a  little  effort,  trace  the 
history  of  any  commodity  from  its  source  until  it  ar- 
rives at  the  hands  of  the  consumer. 

Thus,  the  pen  I  am  writing  with  was  first  dug  out 
of  the  earth  in  the  form  of  ore.  The  labour  which 
dug  it  out  will  form  a  portion  of  its  cost,  so  also  there 
will  be  added  a  percentage  for  development  work 
necessary  to  reach  the  ore  and  a  percentage  for  de- 
preciation of  machinery  and  equipment  of  the  mine 
from  which  it  was  taken. 

The  labour  of  those  who  melted  it  into  pure  metal, 
forms  another  infinitesimal  portion  of  the  cost,  so  also 
does  the  percentage  chargeable  to  construction  and 
maintenance  of  the  smelter.  Then  there  is  the  ma- 
chinery and  labour  which  rolls  it  into  sheets,  the  labour 
and  machinery  which  make  it  into  a  pen,  the  labour 
and  machinery  which  carry  it  to  the  retailer,  and 
lastly  the  labour  of  the  clerk  who  places  it  in  my 
hands  and  makes  my  change.  All  these  form  a  portion 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  57 

of  the  cost  and  in  every  instance  the  charge  is  simply 
for  the  value  of  labour  contributed  and  no  more. 

Contrast  this  with  the  methods  of  capitalism,  and 
it  is  easy  to  see  where  the  great  saving  is  effected. 

The  man  who  owns  the  mine  makes  the  first  prof- 
it on  the  ore,  the  man  who  supplies  tools  has  a  profit 
on  these,  the  man  who  owns  the  smelter  must  have  his 
profit,  and  his  profit  on  the  profit  which  the  mine- 
owner  has  already  added.  The  man  who  rolls  it  into 
sheets  adds  another  profit,  and  a  profit  on  both  profits 
which  have  already  been  added,  plus  a  percentage  of 
the  profits  which  some  one  else  has  made  upon  the 
machinery  with  which  he  works.  The  man  who 
finally  makes  it  into  a  pen  has  another  profit  and 
another  profit  on  the  profits,  with  a  percentage  of  the 
profit  which  some  one  has  made  on  the  tools  which  he 
uses.  Finally,  the  railways,  which  by  the  way  have 
had  several  profits  already  in  carrying  ore,  plates,  etc., 
add  another  profit  on  its  cost,  plus  a  profit  on  the  prof- 
its already  added,  and  finally  the  wholesaler  and  the 
retailer  add  their  set  of  profits,  so  that  when  the  pen 
reaches  the  hand  of  the  consumer  its  price  is  probably 
four  parts  profit  and  one  part  actual  cost. 

So,  then,  the  reader  may  contrast  the  two  systems, 
using  his  imagination  to  picture  other  differences 
which  will  arise  as  a  result  of  the  substitution  of  in- 
dustry for  the  people,  rather  than  industry  for  profits, 
which  is  the  rule  under  capitalism. 

Among  the  problems  which  will  be  solved  either 
wholly  or  in  part,  directly  or  indirectly  through  the 
betterment  of  human  conditions,  are  the  following, 
some  of  which  we  have  already  dealt  with  and  others 


58 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


which  we  shall  consider  in  detail  in  the  remaining 
portion  of  the  work: 


Rents 

Interest 

Profits 

Poverty 

Landlordism 

Overcrowding 

The  Slums 

Disease 

Immorality 

Crime 

Intemperance 

Unemployment 

Adulteration  of  food 


Strikes    and    Lock- 
outs 

Long  hours  of  work 

Child  labour 

Neglect  of  children 

War 

Tariff 

Monopolies 

Trusts 

Panics 

Industrial    depres- 
sion 

Railway  rates 


Revolts 

Frauds 

High  prices 

Short  measures 

Advertising 

Shoddy 

Dishonesty  in  trade 

Political  corruption 

Legislation  for  the 
Interests 

Control  of  legisla- 
tures by  monied 
interests 

Ignorance 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  59 


XVI 

THE     HOME 

And  what  of  the  home?  Must  we  assume  that 
the  government  is  to  take  possession  of  all  property 
and  that  the  property  which  a  man  enjoys — his  own 
home — is  similarly  to  pass  out  of  his  possession?  Not 
at  all,  for  as  we  shall  see,  when  we  come  to  treat  of 
property  under  its  separate  heading,  no  such  thing  is 
necessary.  Must  we  assume  that  the  state  is  to  house 
its  population  in  great  institutions,  and  that  children 
are  to  be  brought  up  in  a  wholesale  manner,  in  state- 
regulated  institutions,  which  are  to  break  up  the  homes 
and  destroy  the  family?  On  the  contrary,  such  a  thing 
is  neither  necessary  nor  desirable,  and  to  those  who 
labour  under  the  impression  that  socialism  entails  the 
destruction  of  the  home,  let  me  say  that,  whereas  I 
know  of  not  a  few  socialists  who  have  made  repeated 
efforts  to  efface  this  impression,  I  know  of  not  a  single 
one  of  any  consequence  who  entertains  it.  Certainly 
no  such  idea  is  to  form  a  part  of  "The  New  Socialism. " 
For  under  the  new  order  the  family  is  to  be  restored 
and  strengthened  by  conditions  which  will  make 
family  life  not  only  possible  but  profitable.  It  is 
capitalism  which  is  destroying  the  family  as  may, 
without  effort,  be  proven. 

I  might  open  any  one  of  half  a  dozen  books  in  my 
library  and  find  figures  and  details  of  the  distressing 


60  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

condition  of  the  poor  of  our  own  times.  I  could  find 
in  a  hundred  places  the  harrowing  details  of  life  in 
the  tenements  which  capitalism  has  furnished  for  the 
poor,  but  it  is  not  my  wish  to  do  this.  Rather  would  I 
present  the  brighter  side,  by  picturing  conditions 
under  which  the  home  may  become  what  it  ought  to 
be,  the  scene  of  domestic  happiness,  freed  from  the 
awful  spectre  of  poverty  and  want,  which  alone  forms 
a  sufficient  indictment  of  capitalism. 

It  is  capitalism  which  pays  the  working  girl  a 
wage  upon  which  she  is  unable  to  live.  It  is  capitalism 
which  has  taught  the  young  man  that  it  does  not  pay 
to  marry.  It  is  capitalism  which  makes  it  impossible 
for  people  to  have  families,  and  it  is  capitalism  which 
breaks  up  the  home  with  its  enforced  seasons  of  idle- 
ness, and  the  prohibitive  cost  of  living.  It  is  capital- 
ism which  drives  women  and  children  into  the  mills 
and  factories  when  they  ought  to  be  in  the  schools, 
and  in  the  homes. 

Under  the  new  order  better  conditions  are  in- 
evitable. As  will  be  made  plain  under  another  head- 
ing, there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  unemployment. 
Each  man  may  secure  work,  and  for  the  wages  which 
he  earns  will  be  able  to  support  himself  and  his  family. 
He  will  no  longer  be  driven  by  high  rents  into  the 
miserable  tenements  in  which  working  people  are  now 
housed.  In  fact,  there  will  be  no  such  miserable 
apartments  to  be  had.  For  when  the  state  or  the  city 
has  become  sole  owner  of  its  lands,  such  structures 
will  disappear,  to  be  replaced  by  houses  built  by  the 
city  or  state,  or  by  houses  which  the  workers  shall 
construct  for  themselves,  and  in  which  their  individ- 
uality may  be  expressed. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  61 

But  why,  even  under  the  best  conditions,  should 
they  be  crowded  into  the  close  quarters  of  the  city? 
Why  should  men  and  women  be  segregated  into  such 
crowded  communities  as  now  constitute  what  we  know 
as  our  cities?  Is  it  because  land  is  scarce,  or  is  it  due 
to  conditions  which  under  the  new  order  will  disap- 
pear? 

Is  it  not  due  to  the  fact  that  as  the  city  grows  the 
cost  of  land  is  enhanced  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
workers  cannot  afford  to  occupy  more  than  a  small 
portion  of  it?  Is  it  not  true  that  the  attractive 
portions  are  reserved  for  the  wealthy,  the  less  attrac- 
tive to  be  occupied  by  industrial  establishments  while 
the  slums — the  outworn  districts,  and  outworn  build- 
ings of  a  former  generation,  are  bequeathed  to  the 
worker,  and  to  those  for  whom  capitalism  has  provid- 
ed no  work,  or,  worse  still,  whom  it  has  unfitted  for 
work. 

Elimnate  Mr.  X  once  more — the  landlord  and 
land  speculator — and,  presto!  the  scene  is  changed. 
The  city  will  expand.  There  will  be  room  for  all,  and 
enough  for  playgrounds  and  open  parks  and  an  abund- 
ance for  homes. 

But  we  have  an  even  brighter  picture  to  offer. 
Suburban  life  has  its  attractions  even  now,  in  spite 
of  inadequate  facilities  for  travel,  and  the  excessive 
charges  of  railways  and  trolley  companies.  But  when 
these  also  are  owned  by  the  people,  and  operated  for 
the  people,  and  when  the  profits  which  now  make 
millionaires  are  divided  among  those  who  travel,  may 
there  not  be  sunshine  and  fresh  air  amid  green  fields 
and  flowing  brooks,  even  for  the  most  humble  worker 
in  the  city's  great  hive  of  industry? 


62  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

With  shortened  hours  of  work  there  will  be  great- 
er leisure  for  the  worker.  With  better  conditions  and 
better  housing,  there  will  be  healthier  and  happier 
children,  and  with  proper  institutions  of  learning 
which  all  may  attend,  there  will  be  opportunity  for  all 
who  have  the  ability  or  the  desire  to  learn.  Poverty 
will  be  replaced  by  abundance,  vice  will  give  place  to 
virtue,  and  in  place  of  the  slum  we  shall  have  the  home. 

But  our  system  would  be  accounted  far  from  com- 
plete were  we  to  fail  to  take  into  account  that  problem 
of  all  problems — the  domestic  servant. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  63 


XVII 

THE     DOMESTIC     SERVANT 

Of  all  the  problems  which  have  confronted  modern 
civilization  the  one  with  which  capitalism  has  made 
the  least  progress  is  that  of  domestic  economy.  Here 
we  may  find  the  least  amount  of  cooperation  and  per- 
haps the  greatest  waste  of  effort. 

When  I  arise  in  the  chill  of  the  early  morning  and 
look  out  over  the  housetops  of  the  neighbouring  vil- 
lage, and  observe  issuing  from  each  tiny  chimney  a 
little  wreath  of  smoke,  it  tells  the  whole  story  of  do- 
mestic inefficiency.  Beneath  each  of  these  little  smoke 
wreaths  is  a  stove,  beside  each  stove  the  domestic 
drudge,  each  with  her  little  separate  fire  and  her 
separate  pot  of  porridge. 

A  thousand  fires  for  a  thousand  families,  or  an 
average  perhaps  of  one  fire  to  each  five  or  six  persons, 
or  for  a  community  of  five  thousand  persons,  one 
thousand  stoves  with  one  thousand  fires,  one  thousand 
domestic  drudges  each  with  her  pan  of  fried  sausages 
and  hot  muffins.  One  thousand  persons  to  cook  break- 
fast for  five  thousand.  What  a  story  of  inefficiency 
and  waste  is  told  by  the  smoke  of  those  chimneys! 
And  where  is  the  solution  to  be  found,  if  not  in  co- 
operation ? 

Five  thousand  breakfasts  could  be  cooked  with 
one-half  the  expense  and  one-quarter  the  labour,  if 


64  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

people  could  only  find  means  of  cooperating.  And  is 
this  impossible,  without  breaking  the  domestic  ties 
which  keep  the  home  together?  Could  we  not  find 
some  means  of  cooking  these  five  thousand  breakfasts 
and  serving  them  without  resorting  to  that  unattrac- 
tive system  of  living  in  barracks  like  an  army  of 
soldiers. 

Undoubtedly  that  is  the  simplest  solution  of  the 
problem  and  the  most  economical,  but  must  we  ever 
be  considering  how  to  do  things  by  the  cheapest 
method,  or  are  we  to  make  a  compromise  between 
cheapness  and  comfort?  If  I  prefer  my  own  breakfast 
table  to  that  of  the  common  board  at  the  barracks, 
must  I,  therefore,  be  a  slave  to  the  common  cook  stove, 
or  may  I  not  find  some  method  by  which  I  can  have 
my  breakfast  cooked  and  delivered  at  my  door  ready 
for  the  table,  or,  failing  that,  may  I  not  at  least  have 
my  hot  muffins  at  breakfast,  and  my  roast  beef  and 
plum  pudding  at  dinner?  Must  I  have  bread  cooked 
at  home  because  the  baker  will  spoil  his  bread  to  make 
it  light,  and  give  short  weight  at  a  long  price?  Must 
it  ever  be  that  the  baker  will  make  cake  with  lard  in- 
stead of  butter,  and  pastry  which  I  do  not  care  to 
eat?  Must  the  cafe  always  be  a  place  where  your 
meat  is  cooked  without  seasoning  and  without  flavour, 
and  where  canned  vegetables  are  served  because  they 
are  cheap?  Or  are  we  to  have  some  day  a  municipal 
bakery  where  the  science  of  cooking  is  properly  taught 
and  practiced,  and  municipal  restaurants  where  cook- 
ery is  understood,  and  from  which  well  cooked  dinners 
may  be  sent  to  our  homes,  ready  to  serve,  at  a  price 
which,  for  its  cheapness,  could  not  be  equalled  with 
the  most  rigid  economy  in  the  home? 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  65 

In  other  words,  may  not  the  state  become  our 
domestic  servant,  for  what  need  will  there  be  for  a 
cook  when  the  housewife  may  go  to  her  telephone  at 
ten  in  the  morning  and  order  the  dinner,  meat,  vege- 
tables and  pudding  which  at  twelve  o'clock  will  be 
served  piping  hot  from  the  neat  box  in  which  it  may 
be  kept  for  hours'?  If  these  problems  seem  of  minor 
importance  they  serve  to  illustrate  the  many  details 
in  which  a  better  method  will  affect  our  daily  lives. 

Without  Mr.  X  we  may  have  pure  food  free  from 
all  manner  of  adulterations,  properly  prepared  and  at 
actual  cost  price.  We  shall  have  pure  milk  from  well 
fed  cows;  pure  butter  made  with  care  under  the  eye 
of  an  expert.  We  shall  no  longer  be  fooled  by  skilful 
advertising  into  buying  things  which  have  little  value. 
We  shall  get  full  weight  and  there  will  no  longer  be 
the  universal  complaint  of  the  high  cost  of  living.  It 
is  the  desire  to  make  profits  which  alone  accounts  for 
all  these  things,  and  when  there  is  no  longer  this  in- 
centive there  will  no  longer  exist  the  cause  of  the 
domestic  problem. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XVIII 

THE    CITY 

And  if  the  home  is  to  improve  under  the  new  order, 
what  shall  we  say  of  the  city,  which  is  simply  the 
larger  home  of  the  people?  Not  merely  the  home  in 
which  they  sleep  and  eat,  but  the  home  in  which  they 
work,  and  of  which  their  individual  homes  are  merely 
a  part. 

Already  we  have  noted  some  changes  which  must 
occur  under  the  new  order.  The  store,  or  rather 
myriads  of  little  stores  of  every  description,  are  to 
give  place  to  a  more  efficient  institution.  The  waste- 
ful methods  of  distribution  are  to  be  replaced  by  a 
more  rational  system.  The  slum  is  to  disappear  and 
the  tenement  house  of  the  capitalist  landlord  must 
give  place  to  modern  buildings  which  the  city  or  state 
will  erect  and  own.  Speculation  in  land  will  no  longer 
compel  people  to  crowd  together  as  heretofore,  and 
the  city  will  grow  laterally  instead  of  perpendicularly. 
Land  is  not  so  scarce  that  people  must  needs  be  crowd- 
ed into  a  small  area,  and  when  the  profits  of  the  land- 
lord and  speculator  are  eliminated  there  will  be  room, 
not  only  for  the  city's  population,  but  for  open  spaces 
and  parks,  broad  streets  and  shaded  avenues. 

Transportation  being  no  longer  in  the  hands  of 
the  money-makers,  rates  will  be  greatly  reduced; 
trains  and  teams  will  be  more  comfortable  and  more 
frequent.  In  a  word,  the  people  will  be  more  easily 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  67 

transferred  from  place  to  place.  Thus  suburban  homes 
will  become  more  general.  The  concentrating  of 
places  of  business  within  a  narrow  radius  being  no 
longer  necessary,  another  tendency  to  concentration 
of  population  will  be  removed. 

National  ownership  of  coal  mines  and  water 
powers  will  also  tend  to  cheapen  transportation  and 
household  requirements,  and,  with  such  improvements 
as  are  already  within  the  grasp  of  science,  may  there 
not  come  a  time  when  electrical  energy,  supplied  from 
the  never  failing  streams  and  waterfalls,  will  greatly 
lighten  the  household  burdens  as  well  as  cheapen  the 
cost  of  power  necessary  for  transportation  and  the 
lighting  of  the  city !  So  that  the  great,  smoking,  dirty, 
dreary  wastes  of  human  habitations  which  we  now 
know  will  be  transformed  into  better  cities,  cleaner 
and  more  healthful,  free  from  overcrowding  and  its 
consequent  diseases!  With  better  conditions  and  bet- 
ter employment,  better  wages  and  better  provision, 
poverty  and  ignorance  must  disappear.  Children  will 
find  room  in  which  to  enjoy  the  sunshine  and  fresh  air 
which  is  necessary  to  their  existence,  and,  being  freed 
from  the  toil  which  destroys  both  body  and  mind,  will 
grow  into  better  men  and  women.  "With  better  schools 
and  better  conditions  of  work  and  play,  we  shall  have 
a  better  race  of  working  people. 

So,  in  keeping  with  other  improvements,  the  city 
will  also  improve.  Better  streets  from  which  there 
will  be  no  dust,  factories  from  which  there  will  issue 
no  smoke,  sewers  to  carry  away  all  the  waste,  news- 
papers which  will  tell  the  truth,  advertisements  which 
will  not  lie,  stores  which  give  honest  measure,  trolleys 
which  are  not  overcrowded,  and  fares  which  contain 


68  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

no  overcharges,  banks  which  pay  no  interest  and  make 
no  profits,  abundance  of  electric  energy  and  light  at 
a  small  cost,  tenants  without  landlords,  all  will  com- 
bine to  make  a  more  cheerful  and  more  contended 
people. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XIX 

PROPERTY 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  ownership  of  prop- 
erty will  be  entirely  prohibited  under  the  new  order, 
for  such  need  not  be  the  case.  Ownership  of  property  is 
to  be  restricted  only  in  cases  in  which  such  ownership 
enables  one  man  to  make  a  profit  from  the  labour  of 
another.  In  fact  ownership  of  the  property  is  es- 
sential to  the  maintenance  of  justice  and  order.  A 
man  may  own  his  home,  and  in  fact  everything  which 
money  will  purchase,  a  yacht  or  automobile  or  a  work- 
shop if  it  is  for  his  own  use  solely.  No  restrictions 
need  be  put  upon  property  save  those  which  are  neces- 
sary to  prevent  the  spoliation  of  one  man  by  another. 
The  principle  of  state  ownership  applies  solely  to  the 
tools  of  cooperative  industry,  and  these  no  man  should 
own,  since  ownership  gives  him  the  power  to  make 
profits,  and  thus  rob  his  fellow  citizens. 

Nor  do  we  need  to  assume  that  all  labour  must  be 
employed  by  the  state.  Here  too,  we  may  draw  a 
distinction  between  labour  cooperatively  employed  and 
labour  which  is  performed  independently.  Thus  the 
musician  need  not  be  a  state  employee.  The  hall  in 
which  he  sings  may  belong  to  the  state,  or  to  the  city, 
and  he  may  hire  this  without  paying  a  profit  to  the 
owner.  His  voice  and  is  genius  are  his  own  individual 
possessions,  and  he  has  as  much  right  to  make  his  own 
price  with  his  audience,  as  has  the  man  who  hires  him- 


70  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

self  to  the  manager  of  a  factory.  He  must  compete 
with  all  others  who  can  sing  or  play,  and  his  audience 
are  free  to  accept  his  terms  or  to  reject  them  as  they 
wish.  In  the  same  manner  the  author,  or  the  orator, 
may  employ  his  individual  efforts.  The  author  will 
publish  his  book  without  paying  profits  to  people  who 
own  the  machinery  necessary  to  print  and  bind  it.  He 
may  make  his  own  price  for  his  own  work,  and  the 
public  may  buy,  or  not,  as  they  choose.  He  is  in  com- 
petition with  all  others  who  write  books,  and  is  on  the 
same  footing  as  those  who  compete  for  a  position  in 
any  branch  of  industry.  The  same  principle  may  be 
applied  to  the  work  of  the  inventor,  but  since  he  has 
become  the  subject  of  much  heated  debate  we  reserve 
his  case  to  be  dealt  with  under  a  separate  heading. 

But  here  is  a  very  different  theory  of  property 
from  any  which  has  arisen  under  capitalism.  Capital- 
ism practically  claims  for  any  man  ownership  of  any- 
thing he  may  possess,  or  acquire,  not  excluding  even 
the  earth  itself.  And  property  under  capitalism  means 
also  the  right  to  tax  others  for  the  privilege  of  using 
it.  Under  such  a  system,  what  need  a  man  do  more 
than  own  property,  and  in  fact  what  more  do  many 
men  do  than  draw  rents,  interest,  and  profits  from  the 
labour  of  others  by  virtue  of  such  ownership? 

The  ancestors  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland  shared 
in  the  land  of  England  by  right  of  conquest,  and  today 
his  lineal  descendant  still  lives  in  idleness  and  luxury 
by  virtue  of  the  property  thus  acquired. 

Forty  years  ago  the  Dominion  of  Canada  gave  to 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  Company  vast  areas  of 
land,  at  that  time  unoccupied.  Today  their  successors 
and  assigns  draw  rents  and  profits  from  the  posses- 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  71 

sion  and  sale  of  that  land,  which  has  arisen  to  five  and 
ten  times  the  value  at  which  it  was  held  at  the  time  it 
passed  into  their  hands. 

Today  we  realize  that  the  ownership  of  a  vast 
amount  of  property  in  land,  and  in  the  machinery  of 
production  and  distribution,  has  passed  into  the  hands 
of  a  few  men  who  are  using  them  more  and  more  as 
means  of  extracting  enormous  profits  from  the  people 
who  use  them.  Yet  wise  men  shake  their  heads  and 
talk  of  the  grave  consequences  which  will  follow  if  we 
question  the  rights  of  property. 

But  by  what  right  do  they  assert  their  ownership 
to  these  things?  Did  their  labour  produce  them?  Not 
so,  for  they  are  too  few  in  number  to  have  produced, 
even  with  the  most  consummate  skill,  the  one 
thousandth  part  of  their  holdings.  They  own  them  by 
virtue  of  having  acquired  them  under  the  laws  of 
capitalism,  that  is  all.  And  if  the  laws  of  capitalism 
are  unjust  laws,  then  their  ownership  rests  upon  in- 
justice and  cannot  last. 

Labour  constitutes  the  sole  claim  to  property,  and 
under  the  new  order  labour  will  constitute  the  sole 
right  of  ownership,  and  whether  it  be  little  or  much, 
such  ownership  will  be  respected  and  upheld. 

First  of  all  we  must  uphold  the  right  which  each 
man  has  to  property  in  his  own  strength  and  knowl- 
edge. We  must  recognize  his  right  to  work;  and, 
secondly,  we  must  uphold  his  right  to  all  that  his 
labour  produces — the  right  which  is  persistently 
violated  under  capitalism. 


72  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XX 

FREEDOM 

Must  we  be  hedged  in  with  restrictions  on  every 
hand  in  order  that  our  ideals  may  be  realized,  and  our 
system  be  made  workable,  or  are  we  to  realize  a  wider 
and  more  wholesome  freedom  under  the  new  order? 

Must  hours  and  conditions  of  labour  be  regulated 
to  the  minutest  detail,  and  must  the  workers  be  mar- 
tialed  into  well-drilled  armies?  Must  they  be  alloted 
their  various  tasks  and  ordered  hither  and  thither  by 
any  army  of  officials  who  are  to  conduct  the  business 
of  production  just  as  we  now  conduct  the  business  of 
warfare?  Are  a  man's  children  to  be  trained  just  as 
the  state  shall  prescribe,  so  many  for  this  trade,  so 
many  for  that?  Or  is  there  to  be  even  greater  freedom 
of  choice  than  under  the  rule  of  the  capitalists  ? 

Certain  methods  must  be  pursued  in  all  indus- 
try. Hours  of  labour  must  be  uniform  for  each 
factory  and  workshop,  just  as  they  now  are,  but  this 
does  not  necessarily  imply  a  stricter  regulation  of 
labour  or  a  more  strict  discipline  for  the  workers.  In 
fact  it  will  readily  appear  that  a  far  more  liberal 
policy  may  be  adopted  towards  the  workers. 

Under  the  existing  order,  a  man  does  not  leave 
his  position  except  under  the  most  pressing  circum- 
stances. Once  he  has  dropped  from  his  niche  in  the 
industrial  machinery,  he  finds  his  place  filled  by 
another,  and  immediately  he  becomes  one  of  the  great 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  73 

army  of  the  unemployed,  who  must  await  their  turn, 
and  eke  out  an  existence  until  they  can  again  find  em- 
ployment. Thus  the  worker  becomes  a  slave  to  his 
job.  He  dare  not  leave,  no  matter  how  much  he  may 
need  a  rest  or  a  holiday.  He  becomes  a  fixture  in  the 
industry,  and  with  a  living  wage  as  his  recompense, 
must  remain  at  his  post  year  in  and  year  out,  until  at 
last,  no  longer  able  to  hold  his  place  among  younger 
men,  he  is  dropped  out,  to  be  heard  of  only  by  the 
charity  organizations,  or  to  be  cared  for  by  his 
children. 

But  what  of  his  freedom  under  the  new  order? 
With  better  conditions  and  better  wages  he  will  be 
better  able  to  afford  a  holiday,  and,  under  a  system  in 
which  is  recognized  a  man's  right  to  work,  he  need 
have  no  fear  of  unemployment.  Thus,  he  may  work 
when  he  wishes,  remain  idle  if  it  pleases  him,  choose 
his  occupation  as  he  sees  fit,  and  enjoy  in  every  way 
greater  freedom  than  he  now  has.  The  schools  will 
furnish  training  for  his  children  in  whatever  occupa- 
tion they  may  choose.  What  a  man  earns  becomes 
his  own,  and  he  may  do  with  it  whatever  he  pleases. 
He  may  spend  his  earnings  in  any  way  that  pleases 
him.  He  may  hoard  them  for  his  children,  or  spend 
them  on  luxuries  for  himself,  as  he  sees  fit.  In  one 
respect,  and  in  one  respect  only  is  his  freedom  restrict- 
ed beyond  that  which  he  now  enjoys.  He  may  not 
use  his  wealth  to  exact  a  profit  from  the  labour  of  his 
fellow  men,  and  this  he  will  cease  to  wish  for  when, 
under  a  universal  system  of  wages,  he  has  an  equal 
opportunity  with  his  neighbor,  and  is  placed  on  a  basis 
of  equality  with  all  other  citizens. 


74  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

In  a  hundred  other  ways  his  freedom  will  be 
greater.  His  hours  of  work  will  be  shorter,  and  his 
hours  of  leisure  longer.  Better  wages  (or  that  which 
is  the  same  thing,  cheaper  living)  will  enable  him  to 
enjoy  more  of  the  world's  good  things;  music,  litera- 
ture and  art  will  be  within  his  reach  and;  with  leisure 
to  enjoy  these,  together  with  healthful  recreation,  his 
freedom  will  gain  for  him  a  wider  knowledge,  greater 
understanding  and  a  better  enjoyment  of  life. 

Liberty  without  money  is  much  like  a  thirst  with- 
out water,  and  he  who  boasts  of  the  freedom  of  the 
present  age,  thinks  little  upon  those  who  know  only 
the  shelter  of  some  miserable  habitation,  and  the 
routine  of  the  factory,  shut  out  forever  from  the  great 
world  limits,  the  slaves  of  capitalism,  who,  under  the 
new  order  will  be  made  free. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  75 


XXI 

THE    INVENTOR 

What  is  to  become  of  the  inventor  under  this 
system  of  social  cooperation?  Such  is  the  question 
which  is  so  often  asked,  and  upon  which  so  much 
stress  is  laid  that  we  must  needs  treat  it  under  a 
heading  of  its  own.  One  would  suppose  that  without 
capitalism  there  could  be  n  osuch  thing  as  invention 
or  discovery,  and  that  immediately  we  ceased  to  pay 
rent,  interest  and  profits,  the  whole  process  of  science 
and  invention  must  come  to  a  full  stop.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  propose  to  show  that  under  the  new  order 
a  greater  impetus  will  be  given  to  both  scientific  re- 
search and  invention.  But  first  of  all  let  us  see  how 
capitalism  treats  the  inventor,  and  then  we  will  be  in 
a  better  position  to  judge  of  his  status  under  a  better 
system. 

Does  capitalism  really  encourage  the  inventor?  or 
is  it  not  true  that  his  invention  succeeds  in  face  of  dif- 
ficulties which  capitalism  places  in  his  way? 

Imagine  for  a  moment  a  man  without  means  who 
is  endeavoring  to  perfect  an  invention  which  requires 
a  series  of  lengthy  experiments  to  bring  it  to  a  state 
of  perfection.  Does  the  capitalist  furnish  him  with 
means  to  carry  these  out?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  He  must 
first  find  someone  with  whom  he  must  share  his  knowl- 
edge, in  order  to  secure  the  necessary  help.  He  must 
sell  half  his  invention  in  order  to  complete  it,  and 


76  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

when  he  has  completed  it,  does  capitalism  put  it  to 
actual  test  and  prove  its  worth?  Sometimes,  perhaps, 
but  as  a  rule  the  inventor  must  spend  more  time  and 
more  money  in  an  endeavor  to  interest  people  for 
whom  in  the  end  the  inventor  will  make  a  large  profit. 
I  have  in  mind  the  inventor  of  the  Knight  motor,  who, 
after  patenting  his  device,  was  unable  to  interest  any 
one  of  the  manufacturers  of  motors  in  America,  and 
succeeded  in  introducing  his  motor  into  this  country 
only  after  it  had  been  taken  up  and  put  to  actual  use 
by  an  English  firm.  Did  capitalism  encourage  him  to 
persevere  with  his  invention?  Did  capitalism  aid  him 
in  any  way  in  the  time  spent  in  perfecting  it? 
Certainly  not.  Did  anyone  ever  hear  of  a  school  of 
invention?  Did  anyone  ever  hear  of  actual  aid  being 
given  to  any  persons  gifted  with  inventive  genius,  or 
is  it  not  commonplace  knowledge  that  time  after  time 
the  inventor  has  carried  on  his  work  in  the  face  of  the 
most  formidable  difficulties,  facing  even  poverty  and 
actual  hunger  in  his  endeavor  to  perfect  some  improve- 
ment, which  in  the  end  brought  the  largest  part  of  the 
gain  to  persons  possessing  not  brains,  but  money,  and 
with  whom  he  has  been  obliged  to  share  his  invention 
in  order  to  get  it  on  the  market?  Capitalism  starves 
the  inventor  while  he  works,  and  steals  his  invention 
when,  after  years  of  toil  he  has  made  it  complete. 
The  boy  who  improves  the  machine  with  which  he  is 
working  goes  on  at  the  same  old  wage.  The  capital- 
ist who  employs  him  reaps  perhaps  thousands  of  dol- 
lars from  the  improvement,  and  this  same  story  is  told 
time  and  time  again.  I  know  an  inventor  who  sold 
a  valuable  patent  for  three  hundred  dollars.  It  was 
worth  many  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  capitalist  who 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  77 

used  it.  How  many  capable  men  there  are  today 
anxious  to  enter  the  field  of  scientific  research  and  in 
vention,  who  needs  must  think  first  of  their  living  and 
allow  their  ambition  to  wait! 

What  would  you  think  of  a  school  of  research  and 
invention  free  to  anybody,  and  under  the  direction  of 
the  most  able  experts?  And  why  not  such  a  school? 
Would  it  not  pay?  Or  do  you  object  that  it  would  be 
flooded  with  irresponsible  cranks  with  all  manner  of 
foolish  notions  to  exploit?  There  is  no  work  which 
on  the  whole  brings  a  greater  return  to  humanity  than 
that  of  the  inventor,  and  the  judicious  encouragement 
of  inventive  genius  would  certainly  be  among  the  great 
improvements  to  be  looked  for  under  the  new  order. 

But  what  of  the  inventor's  profits?  Do  we  pro- 
pose to  confiscate  these  for  the  benefit  of  the  people 
who  have  no  such  genius?  Not  at  all.  The  inventor 
will  have  the  same  status  in  the  community  as  any 
other  individual.  He  will  own  his  labour  and  his 
knowledge,  as  completely  as  will  the  professor  or  the 
singer.  He  may  sell  his  labour  to  the  state  at  its 
highest  market  value,  and  whether  he  is  employed 
directly  as  an  expert  in  the  field  of  mechanical  im- 
provement or  works  out  his  invention  in  the  privacy 
of  his  own  home,  the  rule  is  the  same. 

Owing  to  our  haphazard  method  of  scientific  and 
mechanical  progress  we  do  not  think  of  the  labour  of 
the  inventor  as  having  anything  in  common  with 
the  labour  of  other  men.  We  think  of  the  inventor  as 
one  who,  through  the  possession  of  an  insight  border- 
ing upon  the  supernatural,  suddenly  hits  upon  some 
great  improvement  which  in  no  other  way  could  have 
been  thought  of,  while  in  truth  he  is  simply  a  skilled 


78  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

thinker  using  the  knowledge  and  tools  which  others 
have  put  into  his  hands.  He  is  simply  a  worker  of 
exceptional  skill  and  therefore  of  exceptional  value, 
and  as  such  he  will  be  recognized  under  the  new 
order.  He  will  be  an  employee  of  the  state  just  as 
all  others  are.  He  will  find  himself  in  competition 
with  others  in  the  same  line  of  work  and  his  wages 
will  rise  or  fall  according  to  the  selfsame  laws  of  de- 
mand and  supply  which  regulate  wages  throughout 
the  world.  So  much  for  the  professional  scientist  and 
inventor,  whose  wages  will  no  doubt  be  among  the 
best. 

But  what  of  the  man  who  by  chance  hits  upon 
some  ingenious  device  of  great  value?  That  there 
will  be  such,  in  spite  of  the  improvement  in  methods 
of  research,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  and  here  it  may 
seem  that  the  application  of  the  law  will  fail.  If, 
however,  we  remember  that  a  man's  labour  is  always 
his  own,  and  that  he  has  at  all  times  a  right  to  all  that 
his  labour  can  produce,  we  see  that  his  invention  is 
his  own,  and  he  can  put  what  price  he  pleases  upon  it. 
That  is  to  say,  he  makes  the  best  bargain  possible  with 
the  state  that  will  use  it.  There  can  be  no  question  of 
his  right  to  a  patent  and  there  can  be  no  question  as 
to  his  right  to  fix  his  own  price.  Here  then,  we  see 
that  the  inventor's  rights  are  greater  under  socialism 
than  they  ever  have  been  under  capitalism.  There  is 
no  one  with  whom  he  is  compelled  to  share  his  knowl- 
edge in  order  to  secure  patent  rights,  and  none  with 
whom  he  will  have  to  fight  for  his  right,  in  the  law 
courts,  when  once  his  right  has  been  granted. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  79 


XXII 

AND    THE    PUBLIC 

"Without  the  public  which  forms  the  great  market 
for  the  product  of  all  industry  there  would  be  little 
use  for  the  inventor  and  little  value  to  his  inventions. 
As  much  as  the  public  owes  to  the  inventor,  so  much 
also  does  the  inventor  owe  to  the  public.  Under  the 
new  order  these  two  parties  will  reap  the  full  value  of 
each  new  invention,  which  is  not  the  case  under  the 
capitalistic  system.  Between  the  inventor  and  the 
public  stands  the  capitalist,  and  greater  even  than  that 
which  he  exacts  from  the  inventor  is  that  which  he 
exacts  from  the  public. 

The  history  of  invention  during  the  past  century 
is  but  the  story  of  the  most  wonderful  creation  of 
labour-saving  devices.  In  every  branch  of  industry 
the  same  story  is  told.  Some  say  that  "the  discoveries 
and  inventions  of  the  nineteenth  century  exceed  in 
number  and  importance  all  the  achievements  of  the 
kind  in  all  the  ages  of  the  past."  And  yet  even  John 
Stuart  Mill  was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  these  improve- 
ments had  benefited  the  great  masses  of  the  people. 

"Hitherto  it  is  questionable  if  all  the  mechanical 
inventions  yet  made  have  lightened  the  day's  toil  of 
any  human  being.  They  have  enabled  a  greater  popu- 
lation to  live  the  same  life  of  drudgery  and  imprison- 
ment and  an  increased  number  of  manufacturers  and 
others  to  make  fortunes.  They  have  increased  the 


80  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

comforts  of  the  middle  classes,  but  they  have  not  yet 
begun  to  effect  the  changes  in  human  destiny  which 
it  is  their  nature  and  their  futurity  to  accomplish." 

If  this  is  a  true  statement  of  the  facts,  what  a 
horrible  indictment  of  capitalism  is  here  disclosed! 
What  the  people  should  have  gained  in  the  decreased 
cost  of  living  and  shorter  hours  of  toil,  has  gone  to 
capital  in  the  form  of  increased  dividends  and  un- 
earned increments.  I  can  buy  today,  in  certain  parts 
of  the  country,  a  pair  of  stockings  made  from  yarn 
spun  by  hand  and  knitted  by  hand,  containing  double 
the  quantity  of  wool  which  the  manufactured  article 
usually  contains,  for  one-half  the  price  which  I  pay 
in  the  store  for  stockings  made  by  the  most  modern 
machinery,  tended  by  persons  who  earn  less  per  day 
than  the  person  who  knits  by  hand.  Who  gets  the 
difference  which  has  been  saved  through  the  use  of 
machinery,  or  must  we  suppose  that  it  is  cheaper  to 
knit  by  hand  than  by  machinery?  Then,  listen  to 
this: 

"What  a  comparison  between  the  work  of  the 
virtuous  Penelope  and  the  weavers  of  a  century  ago 
and  today !  Then,  with  her  wheel,  and  by  walking  to 
and  fro  from  it  as  the  yarn  was  drawn  out  and  wound 
up,  a  maiden  could  spin  twelve  skeins  of  thread  in  ten 
hours,  producing  a  thread  a  little  more  than  ten  miles 
in  length,  while  the  length  of  her  walk  to  and  fro  was 
about  five  miles.  Now  our  Penelope  can  attend  to 
six  or  eight  hundred  spindles,  each  of  which  spins  five 
thousand  yards  of  thread  a  day,  or,  with  eight 
hundred  spindles,  four  million  yards,  or  nearly  twenty- 
one  hundred  miles  of  thread  a  day,  while  she  need  not 
walk  at  all." 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  81 

So  much  for  the  spinning,  and  now,  what  of  the 
knitting?  "The  social  industry  so  quietly  but  slowly 
followed  by  the  good  old  women  in  their  chimney 
corners  with  their  knitting  needles,  by  which  a  woman 
might  possibly  knit  a  pair  a  day,  was  succeeded  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago  by  machines,  twelve  of  which 
could  be  attended  by  a  boy,  which  would  knit  and 
complete  five  thousand  pairs  a  week." 

After  the  reading  of  such  fairy  tales,  or  such  as 
read  like  fairy  tales  to  the  ordinary  man  not  acquaint- 
ed with  the  use  of  manufacturing  machinery,  one 
would  almost  think  that  stockings  would  be  too  cheap 
to  be  worth  patching.  Yet  in  the  household  of  the 
working  man  and  indeed  in  that  of  the  moderately 
well  to  do,  the  darning  needle  so  far  from  having  been 
banished,  is  still  plied  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  keep 
the  living  expenses  within  the  amount  of  the  bread- 
winner's earnings. 

In  the  process  of  screw-making,  in  1840,  twenty 
men  and  boys  could  make  20,000  screws  a  day. 
"Thirty-five  years  later  two  girls,  tending  two  ma- 
chines, were  enabled  to  manufacture  240,000  screws 
a  day.  Since  then  the  process  has  proceeded  at  an 
even  greater  rate." 

"With  modern  foundry  machinery,  and  a  few 
beating  engines,  a  small  paper  mill  will  now  turn  out 
as  much  paper  daily  as  could  be  made  by  twelve  mills 
a  hundred  years  ago." 

"To  supply  the  present  demand  for  printed  mat- 
ter with  the  implements  of  a  hundred  years  ago  it 
would  be  necessary  to  draw  upon  and  exhaust  the 
supply  of  labourers  in  nearly  every  other  occupation. 
Printing  would  become  the  universal  profession." 


82  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

Those  who  would  know  more  of  these  modern 
fairy  tales  of  industry,  are  commended  to  read  William 
D.  Doolittle's  contribution  to  "The  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury" series,  from  which  I  have  been  quoting. 

Mr.  Doolittle  has  no  purpose  to  serve  other  than 
to  record  faithfully  the  progress  of  invention  during 
the  nineteenth  century,  yet  one  who  has  some  thought 
for  the  great  social  problems  which  are  now  com- 
pelling the  attention  of  mankind  cannot  read  such 
titles  without  stopping  to  ponder  the  ever-present 
question:  Why  does  the  cost  of  living  continue  to 
increase? 

But  we  must  turn  to  different  authors  for  the 
answer  to  this  question.  It  lies  hidden  within  the 
pages  of  the  stock  brokers'  lists,  smothered  amid  water- 
ed stocks,  stock  bonuses  and  mergers,  brought  to  light 
only  here  and  there  through  the  work  of  some  tireless 
worker  for  the  public  good,  and  yet  to  those  who  have 
eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear,  it  is  plainly  visible  in  the 
plutocracy  of  great  wealth  which  capitalism  has  pro- 
duced. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  83 


xxm 

MORALS 

Could  anything  be  worse  than  the  influence  of 
capitalism  on  morals? 

The  clerk  who  hands  you  your  goods  over  the 
counter  may  not  be  a  dishonest  person  at  heart,  yet, 
in  order  to  make  sales,  he  must  either  resort  to  de- 
liberate falsehood  or  at  least  refrain  from  telling  all 
the  truth.  He  is  in  competition  with  other  clerks  in 
other  stores  and  his  success  depends  upon  the  number 
of  sales  he  can  make.  He  knows  more  about  the  goods 
which  he  is  selling  than  his  customer  does;  he  knows 
how  much  wool  and  how  much  shoddy  each  piece  of 
cloth  contains,  yet  he  must  pass  it  over  to  you  with  the 
assurance  that  it  is  "all  wool."  He  would  not  dare 
to  tell  you  the  rate  of  profit  that  is  made  on  any  ma- 
terial, nor  the  exact  composition  of  any  article  which 
he  knows  to  be  of  an  inferior  quality,  and,  since  in- 
ferior articles  often  bring  the  largest  profits,  there  is 
the  continued  incentive  to  deceive. 

The  incentive  which  prompts  the  clerk  to  deceive 
becomes  doubly  strong  in  the  case  of  the  proprietor 
who  profits  directly  through  fraud  and  deception.  He 
dare  not  try  to  sell  goods  of  perfect  quality  at  the 
price  charged  by  competitors  for  inferior  articles. 
Competition  must  be  met  in  some  manner,  and  with  the 
constant  temptation  to  substitute  goods  of  inferior 
quality  in  order  to  enhance  profits,  is  it  any  wonder 


84  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

that  we  find  it  almost  impossible  to  obtain  goods  of 
first  quality  even  when  we  are  willing  to  pay  a  large 
price  for  them?  Goods  guaranteed  to  be  all  wool, 
turn  out,  on  examination,  to  be  cotton  with  perhaps 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  wool,  or  no  wool  at  all.  And 
what  is  true  in  this  case  is  true  in  many  others,  so 
true,  indeed,  that  an  army  of  inspectors,  analysts,  etc., 
are  kept  constantly  busy  in  an  endeavor  to  prevent 
fraud,  short  weight,  adulteration  of. foods  and  sales 
of  injurious  proprietary  medicines  and  foods,  except 
where  the  interests  involved  are  strong  enough  to 
prevent  enforcement  of  laws,  or  successful  enough  in 
bribing  inspectors. 

If  boots  are  made  of  good  leather  they  will  not 
wear  out,  and  there  will  be  fewer  boots  sold.  Hence, 
they  are  not  made  strong.  In  the  first  place,  it  costs 
more  to  make  good  boots  than  poor  ones ;  in  the  second 
place,  the  more  boots  purchased  and  consumed,  the 
larger  the  volume  of  business  and  the  larger  the  profit. 

In  how  many  instances  do  conditions  favour  the 
dishonest  dealer?  Methods  employed  by  large 
corporations  are  not  more  conducive  to  morality  than 
those  of  the  small  dealer.  Through  the  whole  fabric 
of  business  runs  the  same  sinister  influence,  from  the 
clerk  withholding  the  truth  from  his  customer  to  the 
financier  who  purchases  the  influence  of  senators;  all 
are  influenced  by  the  same  incentive  to  increase  their 
profits  by  defrauding  the  public. 

But  there  is  an  even  greater  influence  for  evil 
in  the  conditions  which  arise  under  a  capitalistic  sys- 
tem of  production  and  distribution.  I  refer  to  that 
stoical  indifference  to  the  sufferings  and  deprivations 
of  fellow  beings.  In  the  presence  of  poverty  and  suf- 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  85 

fering,  too  widespread  to  be  affected  by  individual 
effort,  men  become  immured  within  the  narrow  limits 
of  their  own  immediate  interests  and  thus  remain  im- 
passive in  the  midst  of  suffering  which  would  other- 
wise move  them  to  compassion  and  sympathy.  Added 
to  this  is  the  positive  influence  of  profits  to  be  realized 
from  the  toil  of  their  fellow-beings.  But  for  the  profits 
of  trade  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  child-labour. 
Because  of  these,  persons  of  refinement  and  otherwise 
instinctively  sympathetic  and  just,  become  the  de- 
fenders of  a  system  which  enslaves  millions  of  innocent 
children  in  exhausting  and  deadening  toil,  ruinous 
alike  to  health  and  morals.  And  where  there  is  in- 
difference in  the  case  of  child-labour,  there  is  even 
greater  indifference  to  conditions  of  adult  labour. 
The  average  man  in  business  hears  of  the  millions  in 
poverty  without  a  shudder.  Show  him  the  enormous 
death  rate  among  the  children  of  the  poor  and  he  re- 
ceives it  with  indifference,  or  discourses  wisely  about 
the  law  of  survival.  Tell  him  of  the  millions  of  able- 
bodied  men  without  employment,  and  he  thinks  of  it 
only  as  an  indication  of  the  stagnation  of  industry  and 
trade.  People  who  are  shocked  at  the  cruelty  of  a 
teamster  who  overloads  his  horses,  or  are  moved  to 
compassion  by  the  sight  of  a  lame  or  injured  animal, 
are  daily  reminded  of  the  sufferings  of  fellow-beings 
far  beyond  that  endured  by  their  dumb  brethren,  and 
hear  of  it  without  a  murmur.  Through  our  whole 
social  fabric  runs  this  influence,  breeding  hyprocisy 
beyond  that  of  any  other  age  of  man.  "Do  unto 
others  as  you  would  that  they  should  do  unto  you," 
is  not  a  precept  which  can  be  applied  in  modern  busi- 
ness methods.  Nor  does  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 


86  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

harmonize  in  any  appreciable  degree  with  the  moral 
principles  upon  which  men  base  their  actions  during 
the  six  working  days  of  the  week.  Yet  men  profess 
Christianity,  and  on  Sunday  give  voice  to  sentiments 
and  moral  precepts  which  they  have  not  the  slightest 
intention  of  practising  during  the  six  days  in  which 
they  go  out,  as  men  say,  to  fight  the  battle  of  life,  a 
phrase  at  once  suggestive  of  the  methods  of  modern 
business. 

If  there  be  one  who  thinks  this  is  an  exaggeration 
of  the  conditions  of  modern  business,  let  him  go  out 
into  the  world  in  an  honest  endeavour  to  follow  out 
the  religion  of  Jesus — to  do  justice,  and  to  love  mercy, 
to  tell  the  whole  truth  always,  to  practice  no  decep- 
tions, to  give  measure  for  measure  in  all  his  dealings, 
and  I  will  venture  to  say  that,  in  competition  with 
others  who  observe  only  the  commonly  observed  code 
of  business,  he  will  fail.  Competition  is  war,  and  war 
means  the  suspension  of  the  moral  law.  A  Christian, 
faithful  to  his  creed,  would  as  easily  succeed  in  busi- 
ness as  a  soldier  on  the  field  of  battle  who,  when  the 
enemy  smote  him,  would  turn  the  other  cheek.  Justice 
is  for  those  who  form  the  narrow  circle  of  our  friends, 
not  for  those  whose  hand  is  against  ours  in  business. 
Pity  and  compassion  are  for  those  in  whom  we  have  a 
personal  interest,  not  for  those  who  make  up  that 
great  abstract  problem  of  poverty.  Christianity  is 
for  our  immediate  family  and  friends,  not  for  those 
countless  millions  whose  wants  give  rise  to  trade  which 
we  must  exploit  to  the  utmost  in  order  to  be  success- 
ful. 

We    must    not    overlook    that    moral    degeneracy 
which  results  where  countless  thousands  are  left  to  the 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  87 

deadening  influence  of  toil  and  poverty.  Can  we  ex- 
pect a  high  moral  standard  from  men  and  women  who 
have  known  nothing  but  toil  from  their  childhood,  or 
from  those  still  lower  in  the  social  scale  for  whom 
there  is  no  work,  or  who  have  not  even  been  taught  to 
do  the  simplest  things  by  which  men  can  support 
themselves?  The  slum  is  not  a  school  of  morals  even 
for  those  who  have  reached  maturity,  much  less  for 
the  children  who  multiply  in  increasing  numbers  where 
the  conditions  of  life  are  hardest ;  yet  these  whom  we 
wholly  neglect  and  leave  to  fester  in  their  poverty, 
must  needs  profess  Christianity,  ere  our  good  Chris- 
tians, of  the  higher  social  scale,  will  soil  their  hands  to 
help  them.  And  those  same  persons,  shocked  by  the 
unbelief  of  the  present  age,  are  equally  shocked  at  any 
proposal  for  the  betterment  of  conditions  which  make 
slaves  of  our  children,  prostitutes  of  our  women  and 
paupers  of  strong  men  whose  only  plea  is,  "Give  us 
work  and  a  fair  day's  pay." 

And  now,  what  of  morals  under  the  new  order? 
Will  our  clerks  and  storekeepers  deceive  us  regarding 
the  quality  of  the  goods  we  buy?  Or  will  they  not 
rather  take  a  delight  in  telling  us  the  truth  and  the 
whole  truth  about  the  goods  which  they  offer  for  sale  ? 
Will  manufacturers  still  be  tempted  to  use  shoddy  in 
order  to  cheapen  the  cost  of  their  goods  and  increase 
their  gains,  or  will  they  take  a  pride  in  producing  the 
best  that  skill  and  machinery  can  put  together,  honest 
goods  and  honest  work,  things  made  to  wear  and  not 
to  wear  out?  Can  there  be  a  doubt  regarding  the 
answer  to  these  questions?  Assuredly  noft.  Under 
the  new  order  when  things  would  be  made  for  use  and 
not  for  profit  there  could  be  no  such  incentive  to  dis- 


88  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

honesty  as  now  exists.  From  the  clerk  who  hands  you 
your  goods  at  the  counter  to  the  magnate  who  bribes 
the  legislators,  the  transformation  would  be  complete ; 
the  incentive  would  be  reversed  and  the  premium  put 
upon  honesty  rather  than  on  fraud  and  deception. 

The  wide-spread  poverty  and  suffering,  now  the 
consequence  of  social  conditions  which  individuals  are 
powerless  to  mitigate,  would  no  longer  exist,  hence 
men's  higher  instincts  would  no  longer  be  dulled  by 
these  things  and  there  would  develop  a  keen  sense  of 
justice,  further  stimulated  by  the  environment  of  a 
social  order  under  which  each  would  receive  the  just 
reward  of  his  labour. 

Eliminate  the  factors  of  poverty,  child-labour,  and 
the  slum,  give  every  man  an  equal  chance  to  succeed 
and  every  women  an  equal  chance  with  men.  Take 
away  the  influence  of  degrading  occupations  and  the 
employment  of  women  in  unsuitable  vocations,  and 
with  a  cleaner,  healthier,  more  industrious,  happier, 
better  educated,  more  cultured  people,  we  shall  have 
also  a  far  more  moral  people  than  can  possibly  exist 
under  a  system  which  places  a  premium  upon  dis- 
honesty, destroying  by  affluence  at  one  end  of  the  scale 
and  by  poverty  at  the  other. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  89 

XXIV 

THE    UNLOCKED    WEALTH 

What  are  we  to  say  to  those  persons  who  persist 
in  the  idea  that  the  world  cannot  support  its  whole 
population  in  comfort,  and  that  a  percentage  must  al- 
ways be  killed  off  through  starvation;  that  the  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  must  work  its  merciless 
destruction  of  the  unfit  among  civilized  people  as  it 
does  among  animals  and  savages!  Truly,  such  a 
theory  must  be  revolting  even  to  those  who  hold  it, 
and  surely  even  they  should  welcome  its  refutation. 

It  would  hardly  be  necessary  for  us  here  to  repeat 
the  denial  of  this  theory,  were  it  not  that  by  so  doing 
we  can  elucidate  another  point  in  the  argument  for  the 
new  socialism. 

The  law  of  survival,  properly  interpreted  and  ap- 
plied, means  just  this,  that  individuals  of  the  most 
worth  shall  receive  the  most  benefits,  and  its  perfect 
application  is  the  consummation  which  we  seek  in  the 
new  socialism — that  each  shall  be  rewarded  according 
to  his  merits.  Now  we  must  admit  that  even  the  most 
humble  worker  who  is  capable  of  applying  his  labour 
is  entitled  to  some  reward.  We  cannot  compel  men 
to  work  without  acknowledging  their  claim  to  what 
they  produce,  so  that  the  question  becomes  this:  Can 
a  man,  by  the  simplest  application  of  physical  labour 
under  modern  methods  of  production,  produce  suf- 
ficient to  keep  him  and  his  family  in  a  state  of  bodily 
comfort?  Let  us  see. 


90  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

When  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  upon  the  shores 
of  America  they  brought  with  them  only  sufficient  to 
carry  them  through  a  single  season.  Yet  with  very 
little  help  from  other  persons,  and  with  the  rudest 
kind  of  implements,  they  succeeded  in  making  their 
living,  and  their  descendants  have  succeeded  in  build- 
ing up  a  wealthy  nation.  Did  it  require  superior 
knowledge  and  skill  to  make  a  living  in  that  primitive 
settlement  on  the  shores  of  New  England,  or  was  it 
not  by  the  most  primitive  methods  of  applying  labour 
that  these  first  settlers  survived  and  made  their  way? 
Imagine  the  amount  of  bodily  labour  then  necessary  to 
produce  a  crop  of  wool,  to  spin  it  into  yarn  and  to 
weave  it  into  rough  cloth  with  which  they  clothed 
themselves,  and  then  turn  to  our  Penelopes  of  modern 
industry!  The  one  girl  working  six  or  eight  hundred 
spindles  and  spinning  twenty-one  hundred  miles  of 
thread  a  day,  is  not  necessarily  superior  either 
mentally  or  physically  to  the  Penelope  of  our  New 
England  settlement.  Does  she  not  produce  sufficient 
to  keep  not  only  herself  but  others  in  not  merely  rude 
comfort  but  in  comparative  luxury  ? 

What  then  of  the  cry  that  the  world  is  unable  to 
support  its  population?  Has  it  grow  too  small  to 
contain  them  all?  Has  the  population  grown  so  great 
that  there  is  not  sufficient  land  to  which  they  can 
apply  their  labour?  Or  is  it  not  simply  that  men  are 
shut  out  or  driven  out  of  profitable  occupations,  and 
driven  into  unprofitable  ones? 

The  man  who  is  starving  in  a  great  city  cannot 
reach  the  idle  land  of  the  country,  and  cannot  work  it 
when  he  does  reach  it,  without  paying  rent  or  pur- 
chase money  to  the  man  who  owns  it.  The  man  who 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  91 

profits  by  investing  money  in  the  wild  lands  of  western 
Canada  little  thinks  that  he  is  simply  locking  up  the 
land  and  the  wealth  which  it  might  produce,  for  the 
time  being,  and  that  his  profit  from  the  speculation 
by  no  means  measures  the  loss  which  others  must  sus- 
tain from  having  its  wealth  locked  against  those  who 
might  use  it.  In  like  manner  the  profits  of  those  who 
own  industries  by  no  means  measures  the  loss  to  people 
who  otherwise  would  make  greater  use  of  them. 

Take  away  rent  from  land  and  abolish  unearned 
increments  and  you  not  only  save  the  rents  and  profits 
of  those  who  now  own  it,  but  you  throw  open  the  land 
to  cultivation  and  greater  use ;  you  unlock  the  portals 
to  vast  fields  of  wealth  which  may  be  used  for  the 
common  people  who  work  for  their  living. 

Take  away  interest  and  profits  from  those  who 
own  our  railways  and  industries  of  production  and  dis- 
tribution, and  you  not  only  save  these  profits  to  the 
people,  but  you  unlock  these  industries  and  open  them 
to  greater  use. 

Take  away  rents,  interest  and  profits  from  those 
who  now  own  land  and  capital,  and  you  not  only  re- 
turn to  the  common  people  half  of  all  they  produce, 
but  you  double  their  production  of  wealth. 

Bring  into  use  all  the  land  that  is  now  idle,  all 
the  machinery,  railways,  mines  and  industries  whose 
production  is  now  limited  by  high  prices,  and  there 
will  be  such  a  flood  of  new  wealth  as  will  make  even 
the  humblest  artizan  well  to  do  as  compared  with  his 
present  lot. 

Then  add  to  this  the  improvements  which  must 
result  in  methods  of  application  of  labour,  in  the  de- 


92  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

velopment  of  new  sources  of  power,  and  in  better 
economy  in  the  use  of  the  present  sources  of  power,  and 
possibly  you  may  be  able  to  partially  realize  the  latent 
power  of  unlocked  wealth. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  93 


XXV 

ORGANIZATION 

What  a  tremendous  undertaking  it  will  be  to  or- 
ganize all  these  different  branches  of  industry!  True 
enough,  if  it  were  not  also  true  that  the  greater  part 
of  it  has  already  been  done.  What  is  a  trust  but  the 
very  organization  which  we  require  for  that  particular 
branch  of  industry.  One  might  suppose  when  listen- 
ing to  the  objections  raised  by  persons  of  the  good, 
sound  conservative  stamp,  that  an  entirely  new  organi- 
zation would  be  required  and  that  an  entirely  new 
set  of  men  would  have  to  be  found  to  conduct  the 
nation's  affairs.  Where  are  you  going  to  find  men  of 
ability  to  fill  all  the  positions  of  trust  which  will  be 
created  under  your  new  system?  We  answer  this 
question  by  asking,  where  do  we  find  them  now?  Few 
persons  seem  to  remember  that  the  same  skill  and 
ability  are  available  for  use  under  a  socialist  form  of 
government,  as  exist  under  a  capitalistic  form  of  gov- 
ernment. The  same  managers,  directors,  and  sub- 
ordinates will  cooperate  in  conducting  our  railway 
systems.  The  same  skilled  men  will  be  available  in 
other  branches  of  industry  and  the  same  methods  of 
organization  may  be  continued  with  such  changes  as 
will  be  required  to  bring  industry  under  the  direct 
control  of  the  government. 

The  trust  needs  only  to  be  made  perfect  by  the 
addition  of  such  minor  competitors  as  have  not  yet 


94  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

been  conquered  and  brought  to  bay  by  its  methods. 
When  thus  made  perfect,  and  its  management  made 
responsible  to  the  government,  this  much  of  our  or- 
ganization is  complete. 

Organization,  however,  is  to  a  large  extent  lack- 
ing in  modern  business  methods.  Wherever  we  have 
competition  we  have  lack  of  organization,  and  lack 
of  organization  means  waste  of  time  and  effort. 

The  fruitless  efforts  of  thousands  of  commer- 
cial travellers,  and  solicitors  of  business,  who  spend 
their  time  in  trying  to  capture  trade  from  one  anoth- 
er, together  with  the  extravagant  campaigns  of  adver- 
tising indulged  in  by  every  business  which  has  not 
been  formed  into  a  trust,  are  a  sufficient  example  of 
this.  But  these  are  not  all.  Far  beneath  the  surface 
there  are  other  forms  of  waste  and  extravagance  of 
which  the  public  dare  not  be  told.  We  read  of  a 
prominent  business  man  who  says:  "If  people  gener- 
ally knew  how  stupidly  and  wastefully  much  of  the 
large  business  is  carried  on,  we  should  become  ob- 
jects of  ridicule,"  and  of  another  who  says  of  the  life- 
insurance  business:  "It  would  not  be  safe  to  have  it 
known  how  extravagantly  things  are  managed  or  to 
what  sorry  shifts  we  are  driven." 

But  we  do  know  of  some  of  the  evils  resulting 
from  want  of  organization.  One  of  them  is  the  use- 
less duplication  of  industries  engaged  in  the  same 
trade,  in  some  instances  reaching  as  high  as  four  or 
five  times  the  capacity  required  to  supply  the  market. 

The  whiskey  trust,  when  first  formed,  was  able  to 
close  sixty-five  of  its  seventy-seven  distilleries  and  still 
supply  the  market  with  the  remaining  twelve  which 
were  kept  running.  The  capacity  of  the  plants  owned 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  95 

by  the  sugar  trust  is  said  to  be  four  times  the  domestic 
demand  in  1900. 

From  these  few  examples  we  may  infer  the  same 
truth  regarding  many  industries  which  have  not  yet 
been  merged  into  trusts.  In  fact  we  need  not  go 
further  than  the  corner  grocery  for  an  example  of  the 
waste  which  results  in  this  way.  What  is  required  in 
such  industries  is  simply  the  same  sort  of  organization 
which  others  have  undergone  when  merged  into  trusts. 
The  trusts  are  not  the  most  wasteful  or  most  difficult 
industries  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  The  corner 
grocery  is  the  worst,  and  with  this  we  have  dealt  in  a 
former  chapter  at  some  length. 

Organization  is  among  the  important  advantages 
to  be  derived  from  our  system  of  state  ownership  and 
management  of  industry.  And,  as  we  propose  to  show 
as  we  proceed,  the  organization  which  will  result  under 
the  new  order  will  not  merely  remedy  the  evils  arising 
from  want  of  organization,  but  will  remedy  also  many 
of  those  which  today  are  common  to  the  most  highly 
organized  industries. 


96  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XXVI 

GOVERNMENT 

Will  it  be  possible  to  elect  and  maintain  a  govern- 
ment capable  of  honestly  and  efficiently  carrying  on 
the  enormous  volume  of  business  which  it  will  be  call- 
ed upon  to  assume?  Can  we  have  perfection  in  any 
system  without  perfection  in  government,  and  until 
we  have  perfection  in  government  will  it  be  possible  to 
carry  out  the  reforms  necessary  to  the  complete  change 
from  capitalism  to  socialism?  These  are  the  questions 
which  no  doubt  have  been  forming  themselves  in  the 
minds  of  my  readers  and  to  which  I  owe  them  an 
answer. 

In  the  first  place,  let  me  say  that  no  government 
can  be  perfect,  or  indeed  in  any  measure  approach 
perfection  under  a  capitalistic  system,  and  that  only 
as  we  approach  perfection  in  our  economic  system  can 
we  approach  perfection  in  our  system  of  government. 
Capitalism  will  rule  in  the  political  world  just  as  long 
as  capitalism  rules  in  the  economic  world,  and  as  its 
influence  is  destroyed  in  the  industrial  world  it  will  be- 
come inoperative  in  the  political  field. 

iThe  railway  companies  of  Switzerland  do  not 
exert  an  influence  over  legislation  as  they  do  in  the 
United  States,  neither  do  they  subscribe  to  election 
funds  of  political  parties,  nor  corrupt  legislators  in 
order  to  prevent  the  passing  of  legislation  against  their 
interests.  And  this  is  not  due  to  any  superiority  on 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  97 

the  part  of  the  Swiss  people  or  to  the  incorruptible 
nature  of  Swiss  legislators;  it  is  explained  by  the 
simple  and  all-sufficient  reason  that  there  are  no  rail- 
way companies  in  Switzerland.  Its  railways  are 
government-owned,  and  herein  lies  the  secret  of  suc- 
cessful government.  Take  away  the  influence  of  the 
railway  companies,  the  trusts,  the  coal-barons  and 
every  capitalist  who  lives  by  privileges,  which  the 
government  should  and  must  eventually  cease  to  grant, 
and  good  government  becomes  possible. 

Another  point  which  may  be  illustrated  with  equal 
simplicity  is  that  the  greater  the  number  of  things 
which  a  government  does  for  the  people,  the  more 
completely  it  touches  every  phase  of  their  lives,  the 
greater  the  people's  interest  and  the  more  effective 
will  be  their  influence  upon  the  government. 

Under  capitalism,  we  delegate  the  making  of  the 
most  important  laws  to  private  firms  and  corporations, 
—the  laws  of  finance  and  the  laws  of  business, — for 
the  most  important  laws  are  those  which  intimately 
affect  our  daily  lives — the  laws  by  which  prices  are 
fixed,  the  laws  by  which  the  interest  on  money  is 
determined,  the  laws  which  determine  the  number  of 
men  who  can  be  employed  and  the  number  that  must 
remain  idle.  These  are  the  laws  which  most  intimately 
and  most  vitally  affect  our  daily  lives,  and  under 
capitalism  these  are  left  to  private  enterprise.  The 
trusts,  and  the  banks,  and  the  railways,  and  the  store- 
keepers, and  the  manufacturers,  and  the  jobbers,  and 
the  wholesalers,  and  the  speculators  are  the  persons 
who  make  the  most  important  laws  today.  Those 
made  by  our  government  are  inconsiderable  compared 
with  those  made  by  the  capitalists,  and  as  long  as 


98  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

people  are  content  to  believe  that  these  laws  are  not 
within  the  proper  sphere  of  government,  we  cannot  ex- 
pect an  independent  public  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
the  government. 

But  what  of  the  time  when  the  government  makes 
all  the  laws?  What  of  the  time  when  government 
fixes  the  price  of  flour  and  bread,  and  meat  and  eggs, 
and  oil  and  sugar,  and  dry  goods  and  freight,  and 
rent,  and  all  the  various  articles  of  trade  and  manufac- 
ture? Do  you  think  we  would  permit  a  corrupt  and 
dishonest  government  to  survive?  Not  a  year  nor  a 
month,  for  under  the  new  order  the  people  will  rule 
as  only  the  people  can  rule  when  the  law-making 
power  is  all  in  the  hands  of  its  government. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XXVII 

AND    LEGISLATION 

Without  companies,  industrial  corporations  and 
private  owners  of  industry  and  land,  legislation  would 
be  far  different  from  what  it  is  at  the  present  time. 
Without  the  corrupters  of  puhlic  life  who  are  ever 
seeking  laws  to  aid  their  purpose,  or  seeking  to  evade 
or  annul  laws  enacted  for  their  restriction  and  reg- 
ulation, parliament  would  be  a  different  institution. 

Statutes  relating  to  the  ownership  of  land,  to 
titles,  rents  and  sales,  would  no  longer  be  of  use. 
Statutes  regulating  hours  of  labour  and  conditions  of 
work,  would  no  longer  have  to  be  enforced  upon  re- 
luctant manufacturers  and  employers.  Statutes  deal- 
ing with  notes,  bills-of-exchange,  money  and  banking 
would  also  be  obsolete  and  their  enforcement  no  long- 
er necessary.  Statutes  and  laws  passed  to  regulate 
combinations  of  capitalists  and  monopoly,  together 
with  the  machinery  of  administration  necessary  to 
their  enforcement,  would  also  be  unnecessary.  Statutes 
aimed  against  adulterations  and  impurities,  together 
with  the  administrative  machinery  by  which  they  are 
enforced,  inspectors,  analysts,  chemists,  courts  of  laws, 
etc.,  would  be  no  longer  required. 

Litigation  resulting  from  the  universal  warfare 
of  capitalists  one  with  another,  and  with  the  state  and 
the  people,  together  with  the  immense  expenditure  of 
time  and  money  employed  in  fighting  these  battles  be- 


100  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

fore  courts  of  law,  would  also  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 
And  without  all  these,  with  their  corrupting  influence 
both  upon  private  and  public  life,  parliaments  and 
governments  would  be  entirely  different  institutions. 

As  time  goes  on,  and  as  more  and  more  the  func- 
tions of  government  are  extended  by  the  acquisition 
of  productive  industries,  there  will  be  an  increase  in 
the  administrative  function  of  government  and  a  de- 
crease in  the  legislative  function,  until  eventually, 
government  will  have  become  the  great  administra- 
tive heart  of  industry  and  commerce,  the  one  great 
business  institution  of  the  nation.  Legislation  will  be- 
come more  and  more  unnecessary.  Laws  for  the  con- 
duct of  private  life  will  remain,  and  the  machinery  by 
which  they  are  enforced  will  last  as  long  as  there  is 
need  for  them.  But  with  better  conditions  and  a 
lessened  amount  of  crime,  a  wider  sense  of  justice  and 
fair  play  in  private  life,  which  must  result  from  a  just 
system  of  business  and  public  relations,  even  these  will 
grow  less  and  less  useful,  so  that  in  time  we  shall  have 
a  government  and  a  business  system  subject  to  the  one 
universal  law  of  production  according  to  cost,  and 
wages  according  to  the  laws  of  competition.  Here  is 
the  great  guiding  principle  in  conformity  to  which 
law  and  order  and  justice  are  possible  in  every  branch 
of  industry  and  in  every  phase  of  human  activity. 

Under  capitalism  we  ask  a  company  or  corpora- 
tion to  carry  on  our  business  for  us,  to  make  our  boots 
or  to  control  our  food  supply,  or  to  run  our  railways. 
We  make  no  definite  bargain  with  them  but  trust  to 
such  measures  of  legislation  as  we  can  devise  to  se- 
cure at  least  a  tolerable  service.  We  make  it  to  their 
advantage  to  rob  us,  to  cheat  us  and  even  to  poison  us. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  101 

We  put  a  high  premium  on  their  dishonesty  and  then 
attempt  to  secure  an  honest  deal  by  the  appointment 
and  maintenance  of  an  army  of  inspectors,  lawyers, 
detectives  and  officers  of  the  law,  supported  by  reams 
and  reams  of  legislation.  They  fight  us  in  the  enact- 
ment of  law  and  in  its  enforcement.  They  corrupt  our 
legislators,  our  courts  and  our  officers,  yet  when  we 
propose  to  do  away  with  private  enterprise,  to  dis- 
continue the  system  which  is  responsible  for  this  cor- 
ruption, up  goes  the  cry  of  corruption.  Governments 
are  too  corrupt  to  undertake  the  responsibility  and 
management  of  industry,  and  we  are  asked  how  it  will 
be  possible  to  secure  an  honest  administration  of  so 
large  a  volume  of  business  when,  with  the  limited  work 
now  done  by  our  governments,  there  is  an  overwhelm- 
ing amount  of  dishonesty  and  corruption. 


102  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XXVIII 

TRANSITION 

How  is  the  transition  from  the  present  state  of 
capitalistic  production  to  that  of  socialistic  production 
to  be  accomplished? 

The  answer  to  this  is  that  it  is  being  accomplish- 
ed day  by  day,  and  that  the  process  is  one  which  has 
been  going  on  with  more  or  less  regularity  since  the 
beginning  of  capitalism. 

Herbert  Spencer,  the  greatest  philosopher  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  mistaken  only  in  trying  to  cover 
too  great  a  field  of  scientific  research,  and  nowhere 
more  greatly  mistaken  than  in  his  interpretation  of 
the  progress  of  modern  methods  of  government,  de- 
plored the  fact  that  "the  buying  and  working  of  tele- 
graphs by  the  state  is  made  a  reason  for  urging  that 
the  state  should  buy  and  own  railways,  supplying 
children  with  food  for  their  minds  by  public  agency  is 
being  followed  in  some  cases  by  supplying  food  for 

their  bodies The  numerous  socialistic 

changes  made  by  Act  of  Parliament  joined  with  the 
numerous  others  presently  to  be  made,  will  by  and  by 
be  all  merged  in  state  socialism,  swallowed  in  the  vast 
wave  which  they  have  little  by  little  raised." 

Spencer's  conclusions  have  been  greatly  strength- 
ened by  events  which  have  transpired  since  the  date 
of  the  essay  from  which  I  am  quoting  and  to  which 
with  a  seeming  fatalism  he  has  given  the  title,  "The 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  103 

Coming  Slavery,"  because,  as  he  argues,  "All  social- 
ism involves  slavery." 

Had  Spencer  even  then  known  of  the  progress  of 
New  Zealand,  or  could  he  have  known  the  extent  of 
that  progress  today,  coupled  with  that  made  by  Ger- 
many, Switzerland  and  even  England,  well  might  he 
have  regarded  the  progress  of  state  socialism  as  in- 
evitable. 

What  more  is  necessary  for  the  complete  trans- 
formation of  present-day  society  than  a  continuance  of 
that  progress  by  the  very  same  methods,  slowly,  as  in 
the  past,  if  it  is  deemed  expedient,  or  with  greater 
rapidity  when  people  come  to  understand  the  process 
of  change  and  the  results  to  be  ultimately  obtained. 

This  idea  will  not  find  support  among  socialists 
of  the  old  school.  Public  ownership  and  state  social- 
ism are  alike  to  them  discountenaced,  and  will  be  until 
they  find  themselves  in  the  seats  of  government  con- 
fronted with  the  problems  of  transition  and  organiza- 
tion. Then  and  then  only  will  they  realize  that  there 
is  no  other  way  possible  than  just  that  which  has  been 
followed  all  along.  Then  and  then  only  will  they 
realize  that  there  is  but  one  practical  way  to  regulate 
wages  and  that  is  through  the  working  of  the  natural 
law  of  demand  and  supply,  and  that  the  wages  system 
substantially  as  it  is  operative  today  among  state-own- 
ed industries  as  well  as  others  must  be  continued  in 
order  to  maintain  any  semblance  of  justice  and  order 
in  the  matter  of  distribution.  Then  and  then  only  will 
they  realize  that  the  one  and  only  method  of  abolish- 
ing interest,  rent  and  profits  is  not  to  earn  them,  and 
that  the  real  and  just  price  of  every  commodity  is  its 
actual  labour  cost. 


104  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

Then  and  then  only  will  they  be  compelled  to 
adopt  a  logical  and  sensible  programme  of  reform, 
such  as  they  repudiate  in  the  earlier  stages  of  their 
success,  but  which,  as  their  strength  increases,  becomes 
more  and  more  a  necessary  part  of  their  propaganda. 

What  course  then  shall  we  follow  in  the  matter 
of  transition,  if  not  the  orderly  and  peaceful  course  of 
purchase?  Compensation  no  doubt  will  be  made  for 
every  industry  acquired.  Compensation  as  has  been 
elsewhere  shown  may  be  justified  to  the  amount  of 
the  physical  valuation  of  the  property  acquired.  But 
even  should  compensation  exceed  this,  there  can  be  no 
great  calamity  following  in  consequence.  Com- 
pensation no  doubt  there  will  be,  and  in  the  earlier 
stages  compensation  will  be  met  with  borrowed  money 
from  the  banks.  Government  bonds  will  be  created  on 
which  for  some  time  we  will  be  compelled  to  pay  in- 
terest, but  which  eventually  will  be  retired  by  the 
direct  issue  of  money  by  the  state. 

Imagine  a  community  in  which  productive  in- 
dustry had  become  fully  nationalized  through  the  is- 
sue of  government  bonds.  Here  we  would  have  a  co- 
operative society  in  which  each,  with  the  exception  of 
bondholders,  would  live  by  the  just  and  fair  wages  of 
labour,  in  which  there  would  be  the  distinct  line  be- 
tween the  workers  and  the  parasites.  The  bondhold- 
ers enjoying  the  interest  on  their  bonds  would  live  at 
the  expense  of  those  who  worked,  and  all  because  it 
had  not  occurred  to  anyone  that  government  paper 
money  was  just  as  valuable  as  that  issued  by  the  banks 
and  money-lenders. 

Should  such  a  state  ever  be  reached  the  folly  of 
our  present  system  of  money  would  be  completely 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  105 

demonstrated  and,  when  once  the  hollow  fraud  of  this 
part  of  our  system  is  made  known  to  the  common 
people,  its  fate  is  sealed. 


106  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 


XXIX 

CONCLUSION 

Why  have  I  called  this  the  New  Socialism?  Is  it 
not  simply  an  application  of  the  principles  laid  down 
years  ago  by  the  founders  of  the  socialistic  movement? 
To  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  literature  of 
socialism  no  answer  is  necessary,  yet  a  brief  statement 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  older  socialism,  contrasted  with 
the  philosophy  of  the  new  socialism,  as  sketched  in 
this  little  book,  may  be  of  interest. 

The  old  socialism  sought  to  establish  justice  by 
means  of  a  sudden  revolution. 

The  new  socialism  clings  to  the  theory  of  evolution. 

The  old  socialism  would  raise  wages. 

The  new  socialism  would  reduce  prices. 

The  old  socialism  would  destroy  competition 
among  workmen,  believing  it  to  be  the  means  whereby 
wages  are  kept  down  to  the  minimum. 

The  new  socialism  would  preserve  competition 
among  workmen,  believing  it  to  be  a  most  important 
and  necessary  factor  to  progress,  and  the  only  means 
by  which  a  just  and  flexible  graduation  of  wages  can 
be  secured. 

The  old  socialism  would  utilize  the  profits  now 
accuring  to  capitalists  to  raise  wages. 

The  new  socialism  would  eliminate  profits  by  re- 
ducing prices  of  commodities  to  equal  the  exact  labour 
cost. 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  107 

The  old  socialism  would  have  no  part  in  the  pub- 
lic ownership  movement,  believing  that  it  means  ex- 
ploitation of  workmen  by  the  state,  which  is  little 
better  than  exploitation  by  private  owners. 

The  new  socialism  would  support  with  all  its 
strength  the  public  ownership  movement,  believing 
that  by  such  means  the  burdens  of  rent,  interest  and 
profits  may  be  materially  reduced,  and  that  by  so  do- 
ing they  are  hastening  the  time  when  such  extortions 
will  entirely  disappear. 

The  old  socialism  looked  solely  to  revolution  as 
a  means  of  establishing  a  social  state  under  which 
justice  might  prevail. 

The  new  socialism  would  promote  a  series  of 
peaceful  and  orderly  reforms,  believing  that  the 
revolution  which  will  bring  about  the  desired  end  is 
one  which  began  when  the  first  slave  was  set  free  and 
will  continue  until  the  last  unearned  dollar  is  paid 
into  the  hands  of  idle  men. 

Would  you  suppose,  therefore,  that  the  new 
socialism  would  be  accepted  as  a  step  in  advance  of 
the  old,  that  it  would  be  hailed  as  a  more  rational 
solution  of  the  all-important  problem,  and  that  the 
philosophy  of  the  older  leaders  would  be  readily  aban- 
doned? Unfortunately  this  is  not  so.  The  cause  of 
truth  always  suffers  from  the  orthodoxy  of  belief 
which  surrounds  the  teachings  of  men  who  have  be- 
come leaders  of  men.  Socialists  should  be  the  last  of 
all  persons  to  become  so  blinded  by  older  doctrine  as 
to  be  unable  to  accept  new  truths.  Yet  experience 
has  taught  me  that  among  socialists  there  exists  an 
orthodoxy  of  opinion  quite  as  conservative  and  un- 
changeable as  any  to  be  found  among  non-socialists. 


108  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

The  aim  of  socialism  is  the  establishment  of  a  sys- 
tem of  industry  under  which  social  justice  may  pre- 
vail. Might  we  not  therefore  expect  that  to  the  prob- 
lem of  finding  such  a  state,  there  would  be  given  the 
most  serious  and  honest  consideration?  Yet,  have  we 
ever  listened  to  a  socialist's  address  in  which  this 
problem  was  given  the  slightest  thought,  and  through- 
out the  literature  of  socialism,  may  we  not  discover 
the  same  indifference  to  this  most  vital  problem  of  its 
philosophy? 

Socialists  call  for  the  complete  nationalism  of 
land  and  of  the  means  of  production.  Yet  towards 
the  problem  of  organization  and  distribution  they 
maintain  an  attitude  quite  incompatible  with  the  spirit 
of  progress  which  should  characterize  progressive  and 
scientific  thought.  They  offer  no  adequate  or  compre- 
hensible scheme  of  their  own,  nor  do  they  appear  eager 
for  the  solution  of  problems  which  they  plainly  do 
not  understand. 

The  reader  may  search  in  vain  among  the  writ- 
ings of  the  orthodox  school  of  socialists  for  some 
serious  treatment  of  these  problems,  yet,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  or  two  works,  little  known,  the  prob- 
lem is  carefully  ignored,  and  most  socialists  are  will- 
ing to  rely  on  some  vague  notion  that  a  socialist 
government  will  be  able  to  find  in  a  few  moments  the 
solution  of  problems  to  which  during  the  whole  period 
of  its  propaganda  they  have  themselves  been  unable 
to  find  the  answer.  Robert  Blatchford  would  have 
us  delegate  such  difficulties  to  "a  committee  of  the 
cleverest  organizers,"  trusting  to  them  to  perfect  a 
system  in  industry  and  distribution  and  to  solve  the 
all-important  problem  of  social  justice  in  the  brief 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  109 

period  following  a  socialist  victory,  and  indeed  this 
seems  to  represent  fairly  the  attitude  of  many  social- 
ists and  socialist  leaders  towards  the  problem,  which 
demands  not  merely  to  be  honestly  faced,  but  to  be 
thoroughly  understood,  in  order  that  our  efforts  to- 
ward the  establishment  of  social  justice  may  become 
effective  and  our  triumph  other  than  an  empty  victory 
ending  in  confusion  and  disappointment.  Your 
proselyte  of  socialism  may  answer  indifferently  that 
the  fates  heed  him  but  little.  Time,  you  say,  will 
find  the  answer.  But  time,  without  thought,  is  empty 
of  result,  and  for  you  who  would  have  us  follow  blind- 
ly until  the  day  of  your  triumph,  what  answer  is  there 
in  time  save  that  which  time  has  given  to  all  such 
fruitless  victories — the  answer  of  despair.  When  the 
ten  million  socialists  have  grown  to  one  hundred  mil- 
lion and  are  then  heralding  the  birth  of  a  new  order, 
how  shall  you  face  them  ?  Before  you  and  around  you 
is  the  exultant  multitude  proclaiming,  capitalism  is 
at  an  end.  All  is  confusion.  Yet  the  world  must  go 
on,  industry  must  be  organized,  the  question  must  be 
answered,  the  problem  must  be  solved.  The  millions 
who  cheer  themselves  hoarse  at  your  bidding  must  be 
housed  and  fed.  Out  of  this  chaos,  you  must  bring 
order,  out  of  this  confusion  you  must  bring  peace. 
And  what  has  time  availed  you?  Time,  empty  of 
thought,  has  not  answered  the  riddle.  Blindly  have 
the  multitude  followed  you.  Implicitly  have  they 
trusted  your  fine  promises,  until  all  is  fulfilled,  all  is 
accomplished  save  the  one  question  unanswered.  And 
now  the  fates  proclaim — answer,  or  perish. 

But  it  is  by  no  such  sudden  transition  that  the 
socialist  hope  is  to  be  realized,  and  it  is  not  for  such 


110  THE  NEW  SOCIALISM 

an  emergency  that  we  must  prepare.  What  is  of 
greater  importance  is  that  we  should  have  a  fair  con- 
ception of  the  manner  in  which  industry  may  be  or- 
ganized to  ensure  the  desired  end  of  justice  and  co- 
operation, in  order  that  our  efforts  may  be  effective. 
Each  step  should  be  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  and 
each  step  in  the  right  direction  should  be  made  with 
confidence  and  with  the  ultimate  purpose  in  view,  the 
realization  of  the  socialist  hope,  a  system  of  industry 
under  which  all  men  will  cooperate  in  harmony  and 
all  shall  receive  a  just  compensation  for  work  per- 
formed. 

If,  then,  this  little  book  has  helped  you  to  under- 
stand the  great  problem  of  human  progress  and  eman- 
cipation, and  if  you  can  see  in  my  solution  the  means 
by  which  this  emancipation  can  be  brought  about, 
what  sacrifice  are  you  willing  to  make  towards  this 
end? 

Before  you  and  around  you  the  great  mass  of  your 
fellow  creatures  struggle  hopelessly  yet  manfully  with 
conditions  which  they  do  not  understand  and  cannot 
overcome.  It  is  true,  only  too  true,  that  the  system 
which  enables  a  few  to  appropriate  rent,  interest  and 
profit  deprives  others  of  life  and  liberty  and  makes 
their  lot  many  times  worse  than  that  of  the  chattel 
slave  of  the  eighteenth  century.  What  this  means  in 
dollars  alone,  we  might,  were  we  able  to  add  together 
the  wealth  which  accumulates  in  rent,  interest  and 
profits,  perhaps  form  some  approximation.  But  what 
it  means  in  human  suffering  and  want,  in  anxiety  of 
heart  and  anquish  of  soul,  will  never  be  known. 

My  purpose  is  to  inspire  hope,  not  despair.  Such 
conditions  cannot  endure  beyond  the  time  when  men 


THE  NEW  SOCIALISM  111 

shall  understand  them.  Will  you  then  become  an 
apostle  of  the  New  Socialism?  Will  you  do  your  part 
to  help  men  to  an  understanding  of  these  problems 
which  now  so  vaguely  impress  them,  remembering  al- 
ways that  what  you  are  willing  to  do,  without  hope 
of  reward,  measures  the  true  worth  of  your  character 
and  citizenship,  and  that  they  are  greatest  in  our  midst 
who  humbly  seek  the  truth  and,  finding  it,  fear  not 
to  speak  it.  No  great  reform  has  ever  been  accom- 
plished without  sacrifice,  no  cause  has  ever  triumphed 
without  the  efforts  of  those  who,  without  hope  of  re- 
ward for  themselves,  have  been  willing  to  serve,  and 
in  the  midst  of  adversity  have  dared  to  speak  the 
truth.  Not  with  the  hope  of  present  gain  do  I  ask 
your  effort,  but  with  the  grander  hope  of  a  brighter 
tomorrow  in  which  your  children  and  your  children's 
children  may  have  peace  and  justice,  do  I  urge  you 
to  go  forward,  satisfied  only  to  gain  for  yourself  the 
glory  that  comes  of  devotion  to  a  noble  cause. 

FINIS. 


ST 


AN  INITIAL  Pln, 

OV«,DUr  O    0N     THE    S°H 


343099 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


